As I was anxiously finishing my beer and looking around an empty and fusty pub in inner Budapest, the prospects of my fieldwork and research appeared rather gloomy. I, a student from Central European University, an academic institution that was founded by George Soros and is the meta-enemy of the populist government and the wider… Continue reading “A short account on the experience of interviewing the far-right: anticipating ‘that’ moment”
Many scholars and observers have noted that our historical moment is marked by an extraordinary populist nationalist conjuncture (Brubaker 2017). Across European contexts and beyond, radical right parties have obtained double-digit support on a platform protesting European and global integration. Existing scholarship has focused on the supply side of populism, examining its drivers. Scholars have… Continue reading “When the wounded nation strikes back”
The Austrian Habsburg Empire was famous for its motto: ‘not to lead wars but instead, to marry [and to colonize more territories]’; frequently repeated in Latin, bella gerant alii, tu felix Austria, nube! Austrian politicians seem to have recently remembered this strategy for expansion and have decided to stage their weddings in a similar fashion. Of course, everyone… Continue reading “The EU’s Putin Wannabes”
Gender studies challenge existing structures that are perceived as natural and enduring, and in doing so, they directly challenge the ideological commitments of the radical right. In August, an announcement was made by the Hungarian Prime Minister’s office that gender studies courses, as of September 2019, would not be funded or recognised by the government.… Continue reading “Gender (studies) trouble in Hungary”
Hungary has taken its leave of democracy and has transformed itself into a dictatorship. Since Viktor Orbán was returned to the office of Prime Minister of Hungary in May 2010, he and his party Fidesz – Magyar Polgári Szövetség (Fidesz-MPSZ; Hungarian Civic Alliance) have transformed the political system of Hungary in a sustained way. Democratic… Continue reading “Hungary and the End of Democracy”
On 28 June 2018, the prime ministers of the EU 27 member-states met in Brussels to discuss the most important current global and transnational challenges. The agenda, it seems however, focused overwhelmingly upon one issue: how to protect the EU from refugees and asylum seekers; that is, how to (re-)build “Fortress Europe”, one in which… Continue reading “The Revival of Numbers and Lists in Radical Right Politics”
The Hungarian political sphere has been nothing if not interesting in recent months – especially in terms of the old Chinese curse “May you live in interesting times.” Events have also been anxiety-inducing of late, with new ideas and proposed bills coming thick and fast from parliament’s supermajority. April and May 2018 saw Orbán’s encouragement… Continue reading “Hungary’s Population Crisis: More Babies and Less Migrants”
In 2015, the ‘refugee crisis’ was a pressing issue facing European societies. Now, it has become the main vehicle for mobilizing the far right. Three years ago, Europe faced its largest influx of migrants since the wars in former Yugoslavia. A seemingly endless flotilla of unseaworthy boats attempted to cross the Mediterranean, as desperate people… Continue reading “How The Refugee Crisis Fuels Radical Right-Wing Extremism”
Turning previously radical ideas, originally confined to the fringes of the party-political narratives and social attitudes, into mainstream orthodoxies is not as difficult as it is often assumed. The flutter of a butterfly’s wings can, in some cases, cause a hurricane somewhere else, over a period of time and through a random chain of unpredictable… Continue reading “The (un)intended consequences of the UK’s ‘hostile environment’ to immigration”
In what has been a blow to the gut of many Hungarians, the radical right Fidesz party has won a third term in power. Fidesz-KDNP won by a large plurality of the vote, up to 48.51% from 44.87% in the 2014 national elections. On 14th April, it was announced that Fidesz had kept their two-thirds… Continue reading “Hungary’s Fidesz secure another term with two-thirds majority”