New ideological conflicts. Trends, actors and new networks

The article offers a sociological and theoretical reflection on the return of ideologies in the contemporary era, arguing that the current historical phase is characterized by the emergence of new ideological conflicts within an increasingly multipolar world. The authors challenge the thesis of the “end of ideologies,” which became dominant after the Cold War, showing that this narrative was itself part of the hegemonic neoliberal framework and its claim to present itself as a technical and non-ideological model. The crisis of the neoliberal order, the war in Ukraine, the rise of powers such as China, Russia, and India, and the resurgence of nationalist and identity-based narratives all demonstrate the continuing centrality of ideologies in global political competition. From a theoretical perspective, the article draws primarily on the “morphological approach” developed by Michael Freeden, according to which ideologies are dynamic and historically situated configurations of political concepts. This perspective makes it possible to analyze ideologies not as rigid and closed systems, typical of the twentieth century, but as flexible and adaptive constructs deeply shaped by social and political contexts. The authors identify three main features of contemporary ideologies: depoliticization, hybridization, and tacticism. Depoliticization refers to the weakening of democratic mediation and the reduction of politics to technocratic governance; hybridization indicates the growing combination of elements drawn from different ideological traditions; and tacticism describes the predominantly contingent and consensus-oriented nature of present-day ideologies, often influenced by populist political logic. The article also introduces the contributions included in the special issue, which empirically explore these transformations in different national and regional contexts. The essays examine, among other themes, Russian neo-conservatism and the revival of neo-imperial narratives, the ideological transformation of the Spanish party system, the role of American conservative think tanks in shaping new ideological syntheses, the polarization of the Italian electorate, anti-immigration nationalism in South Africa, Czechia, and Slovakia, and the emergence of new value conflicts within contemporary democracies. Overall, the special issue demonstrates that ideologies have not disappeared; rather, they have taken on new, hybrid, and adaptive forms closely connected to the reconfiguration of global power and the transformation of contemporary democracy.