Rafael Bardají

Rafael Bardaji
Born1959
Badajoz, Spain
NationalitySpanish
Occupation(s)Author, sociologist, political scientist
Political partyVox (2018-)
People's Party (before 2018)

Rafael Luis Bardají López (born Badajoz, 1959) is a Spanish author, sociologist and former national security advisor to the Spanish government who researches the fields of neoconservatism and international politics. He was the founder of the Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos (Strategic Studies Group) think-tank.[1]

Biography

Bardaji graduated with degrees in political science and sociology from the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM).[2] He became a researcher into American neoconservative politics under the George W. Bush administration and the 2003 Invasion of Iraq.[3] Along with other academics, military figures and politicians, he founded the centre-right Strategic Studies Group which aims to provide research on defense and security. The group maintains informal ties to the Spanish People's Party.[4][5] Bardaji also worked as a policy advisor to People's Party defense ministers Eduardo Serra Rexach and Federico Trillo.[6] Bardaji has also written in support of Israel and is a member of the Friends of Israel Initiative in Spain.[7][8]

In 2018, Bardaji announced he had ended his longstanding affiliation to the People's Party and had joined Vox.[9] Italian journalist Steven Forti argued that Bardaji's role in Vox as being "the main channel that has put the Vox leaders in contact with the American neocon world."[10]

Views

Bardaji has described himself as a Zionist and a supporter of Israel.[11] He is critical of Islam and has argued that Islamic teachings have been responsible for terrorism and that non-violent passages in Islam still encourage intolerance.[12] In 2015, he claimed that contrary to other opinions, Islamic state could not be defined as a typical terrorist outfit as it was a generating support via an apparatus of security and order in comparison to the government of Syria.[13][14]

References

  1. ^ "Aznar ya tiene quien le escriba: Rafael Bardají, la cabeza pensante de FAES, le ayuda a preparar sus clases de Georgetown". El Confidencial Digital. 23 September 2004.
  2. ^ "La Era de la Vulnerabilidad". El Cultural. 19 Sep 2001. Archived from the original on 2018-04-12. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
  3. ^ Rodríguez-Puértolas 2008, p. 1028.
  4. ^ Carmona Pascual 2012, p. 124.
  5. ^ Pardo de Vera 2003.
  6. ^ Carmona Pascual 2012, p. 200.
  7. ^ Ministerio de Cultura: "Orden CUL/2994/2010, de 27 de octubre, por la que se inscribe en el Registro de Fundaciones la Fundación Friends of Israel Initiative". Boletín Oficial del Estado (282): 97317–97318. 22 November 2010. ISSN 0212-033X.
  8. ^ Medina 2015.
  9. ^ Garrido 2018.
  10. ^ Forti, Steven (2021). Extrema derecha 2.0. Qué es y cómo combatirla. Madrid: Siglo XXI. p. 106. ISBN 978-84-323-2030-9.
  11. ^ "El 'lobby' sionista español". Diagonal. 9 November 2006.
  12. ^ Carmona Pascual 2012, p. 131.
  13. ^ Fernández, Daniel (20 October 2018). "El titiritero de la derecha se pasa a Vox". El Plural.
  14. ^ Bardají, Rafael (8 September 2015). "Siria: Asad no es la solución". Libertad Digital (in Spanish).

Bibliography

  • Carmona Pascual, Pablo César (2012). Spanish Neocon: la revuelta neoconservadora en la derecha española (1a edición ed.). Madrid: Traficantes de Sueños. ISBN 978-84-96453-66-1. OCLC 795334955.
  • Estefanía, Joaquín (11 July 2004). "Los 'neocons' castizos". El País.
  • Garrido, José María (2018). "El asesor que 'amaba' a Chuck Norris y también traicionó al PP". El Plural. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
  • Lenore, Víctor (9 April 2018). "De Don Pelayo a Darth Vader: el giro pop de la ultraderecha española". El Confidencial.
  • Medina, F. (15 Jan 2015). "Pablo Casado, ultraliberal, anticastrista, antiprogresista... y encendido prosionista". El Plural.
  • Pardo de Vera, Ana (22 December 2003). "La inteligencia 'mariana'". El Siglo de Europa (583). Archived from the original on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  • Rodríguez-Puértolas, Julio (2008). Historia de la literatura fascista española. Tres Cantos: Ediciones Akal. ISBN 978-84-460-2930-4.
  • Santcovsky, Pablo; Polinelli, Nicola; Sabater, Marta (2008). "Líneas de pensamiento dominante sobre la situación política en Oriente Medio. Una aproximación a cómo cuatro think tanks construyen su discurso" (PDF). Ruta (1).