Rafael Luis Bardají López (born

Badajoz Badajoz (; formerly written ''Badajos'' in English) is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. It is situated close to the Portuguese border, on the left bank of the river Guadiana. The population ...

, 1959) is a Spanish author, sociologist and former national security advisor to the Spanish government who researches the fields of

neoconservatism Neoconservatism is a political movement that began in the United States during the 1960s among liberal hawks who became disenchanted with the increasingly pacifist foreign policy of the Democratic Party and with the growing New Left and ...

and international politics. He was the founder of the ''Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos'' (Strategic Studies Group) think-tank.

Biography

Bardaji graduated with degrees in political science and sociology from the

Complutense University of Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; UCM, links=no, ''Universidad de Madrid'', ''Universidad Central de Madrid''; la, Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, links=no) is a public research university loca ...

(UCM). He became a researcher into American neoconservative politics under the

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

administration and the

2003 Invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...

. 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. Bardaji also worked as a policy advisor to People's Party defense ministers

Eduardo Serra Rexach Eduardo Serra Rexach is a Spanish politician and businessman, who served as the Minister of Defence (Spain), Minister of Defence from 1996 to 2000 during the government of José María Aznar. He is the only person to have held public office wit ...

and

Federico Trillo Federico Trillo-Figueroa Martínez-Conde (born 23 May 1952 in Cartagena, Spain) is a former Spanish Politician of the People's Party, who has served as President of the Congress of Deputies, Minister of Defense and Ambassador of Spain to the Uni ...

. Bardaji has also written in support of Israel and is a member of the Friends of Israel Initiative in Spain. In 2018, Bardaji announced he had ended his longstanding affiliation to the People's Party and had joined Vox. 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."

Views

Bardaji has described himself as a

Zionist Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...

and a supporter of Israel. He is critical of

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

and has argued that Islamic teachings have been responsible for terrorism and that non-violent passages in Islam still encourage intolerance. In 2015, he claimed that contrary to other opinions,

Islamic state An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...

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.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bardaji, Rafael 1959 births Spanish writers Spanish sociologists Conservatism in Spain Vox (political party) politicians People's Party (Spain) politicians Anti-Islam sentiment in Spain Spanish Zionists Living people Complutense University of Madrid alumni Politicians from Extremadura People from Badajoz