Rick Santorum as a leader of American social conservatives

The main problems of American social conservatism at the turn of the centuries are under investigation in the essay. The aim of the analysis is to reveal some specific features of social conservatism through the analysis of social and political views of Rick Santorum. The paper is based on Santorum’s in-depth interviews, his books, analytic articles, election speeches, video materials and statistic data. The transcriptions of the Republican Party’s debates are also used. The analysis of the formation of American social conservatism and its evolution is presented. The author stresses the role of Christian organizations in the forming of social conservative movement and its ideology. Special attention is paid to the current period of the development of social conservatism, which is strongly associated with Santorum as a charismatic leader. The paper gives some valuable information on Santorum’s political biography. The main stages of the career such as his work in the Congress and in the Senate and participation in 2012 presidential campaign are explored. Much attention is given to the key values of social conservatism and its foreign policy principles. The common basis of social conservatism and other conservative movements is discovered. The social conservatives defend foundations of society as traditional conservatives. They agree with a neoconservative doctrine of the US international mission and support the paleoconservative initiative to ban abortion and pornography. It gives grounds to predict that social conservatism has a chance to become the ideological core of American conservatives in 2016 presidential elections.