A number of liberal and leftist critics have described it as a new or sanitized form of neo-fascism or as an ideology of the extreme right that significantly draws from fascism. The political scientist and specialist of fascism Roger Griffin agrees, arguing that the ND exhibits what he regards as the two defining aspects of fascism: a populist ultra-nationalism and a call for national rebirth (palingenesis). McCulloch believes that the ND had a "distinctly fascist–revivalist character" in part because of its constant reference to earlier right-wing ideologues like the German Conservative Revolutionaries and French figures the likes of Robert Brasillach, Georges Valois, Pierre Drieu La Rochelle, and Thierry Maulnier. The Nouvelle Droite has also revered the Italian far right thinker Julius Evola, who remains a potent symbol in the movement. In 1981, the editorial team of the ND journal "Éléments" wrote that "sharing all his views and all his analysis, the writers of "Éléments" agree to recognize in [him one of the most lucid and insightful observers of our times."