NEO-CON

noun and adjective Also written neocon (Politics) In North American politics (especially in the US), noun: A neo-conservative; a member of a political movement known as neo-conservatism, which rejects the allegedly utopian values of liberalism but supports democratic capitalism in which there is a measure of social conscience. adjective: Of or belonging to the neo-conservative movement. Etymology: Formed by abbreviating neo-conservative. History and Usage: The neo-conservative movement in the US arose in the seventies under the influence of a group of contributors to the journal The Public Interest, and by the end of the decade had crystallized its ideas (for example on the place of a welfare state within a conservative society and the need for practical realities rather than utopian dreams) to become the focus of the 'soft' right in US politics. By the end of the seventies neo-conservative was being abbreviated to neo-con; in the course of the eighties this became a standard way of referring to conservatives of this complexion. The neo-con intellectuals are privately dismayed at the choice of 'a Kemp without Kemp's baggage'. New York Times 18 Aug. 1988, section A, p. 27 On the right, the hard-core conservatives and the neocons are left lamenting what they perceive as Reagan's unfortunate drift to d÷tente. Washington Post 2 Dec. 1988, p. 27