The Claremont Institute is a neo-conservative think tank based in Claremont, California. The institute was founded in 1979 at the Claremont Colleges. Its leading scholar is Harry V. Jaffa, a professor at Claremont McKenna College and the Claremont Graduate University. Its current Vice President is Thomas Krannawitter, a recent graduate of the college.

The institute publishes a quarterly magazine entitled the Claremont Review of Books and some publications of its own, mostly Jaffa's works. It is known for espousing a legal philosophy called Declarationism whereby the United States Declaration of Independence is treated as a legal document and component of the government's organizing doctrines along side the United States Constitution.

The Institute subscribes to a self-styled brand of neo-conservative philosophy that it calls "Claremont Conservatism." This philosophy encompasses the Institute's interpretations of historical figures, particularly the American Founding Fathers, Abraham Lincoln, and Winston Churchill.[1] Uncommon for a conservative organization, the Claremont Institute tends to reject the constitutional philosophy of strict constructionism and often publishes material that is critical or derisive of conservative strict constructionists such as Robert Bork, William Rehnquist, and Antonin Scalia.[2] [3] According to some Institute writers, their legal philosophy is closer to that of Clarence Thomas, although outside of the Institute Thomas is widely considered a strict constructionist in the model of Scalia.[4]

Criticisms

The Institute's political beliefs and editorial tactics have made it controversial within the political right as well as in general. Referencing the organization's view of the 16th President, philosophy professor Marcus Verhaegh calls Claremont "the prime font of Lincoln-worship in our times." Members of the Ludwig von Mises Institute - one of Claremont's most frequent sparring partners on the right - frequently dismisses their following as a cult. These alleged cultish characteristics were heavily satirized in 2001 by Derek Copold , who likened the Institute to a radical Islamic sect headed by the "Abratollah Jaffa" and poked fun at the Institute's Ken Masugi for his tendency to liken opposing viewpoints to nihilism [5]

In recent years the Institute's writers have penned a series of critical book reviews aimed at discrediting popular conservative book titles that emerge from differing viewpoints on the political right. Included are Bork's The Tempting of America and Slouching Towards Gomorrah, Thomas DiLorenzo's The Real Lincoln, and most recently Thomas Woods' Politically Incorrect Guide to American History. The Institute's often adversarial role in the conservative movement has earned them a variety of nicknames, some derisive and others embraced willingly, including Super-Hawks, Jaffanese Americans, Claremonsters, Lincoln Conservatives, and Claremontistas.[6] [7]

Publications:

• Claremont Review of Books
• The Proposition
• Local Liberty

External links

• Official website

Other Claremont McKenna College ("CMC") related institutes:

• Reed Institute, CMC
• Rose Institute, CMC