Reflections on the Hungarian elections

Abstract

On 1 July 2022, the Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe organized a roundtable discussion on the Hungarian parliamentary elections of 2022, which was convened by Adam Fabry, a member of the Editorial Board. The participants included Adam, Attila Antal (Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Law, Institute of Political Science), and Tamás Gerőcs (SUNY Binghamton, Department of Sociology), with the moderation of Eszter Bartha, the editor of the journal. The event sought to place the Hungarian elections in a historical and transnational context, attempting to find answers to the question of what deeper causes explain the remarkable success of Orbán’s right-wing, populist political party, Fidesz. Established originally as a democratic, liberal party, Orbán systematically transformed Fidesz into a right-wing, nationalistic-Christian-conservative political party following the sweeping electoral victory of the Hungarian Socialist Party in 1994, modelling its ideology upon the Horthy regime of the interwar era, characterized by far right-wing nationalism, chauvinism, and patriarchalism. Orbán not only has restored the legitimacy of the Christian-nationalistic thought of the interwar era, which led to the tragedy of the Holocaust and the death of over one million people in the territory of “historical” Hungary, but also effectively uses this ideological mix for the legitimation of his autocratic regime. The interwar slogans of “independence” from the Western world, which had been seen as immensely hostile to Hungary (or rather, the Hungarian imperial aspirations in the Carpathian Basin), have gained a new social and political meaning after 1989, when Western capital—with the active support of the newly formed local elite, who were all committed anti-Communists—transformed Eastern Europe into a “laboratory” of neoliberalism. Orbán’s anti-Western and “anti-EU” propaganda should be understood in this context. The event brought together critical scholars from Hungary in order to situate Orbán’s party and the economic and social policies pursued by Fidesz in a transnational context. What makes contemporary Hungary a “laboratory” of a new autocracy or outright neofascism? What can neighbouring countries learn from the Hungarian case and how can we explain the unbroken popularity of Fidesz – in spite of all the corruption scandals, the Western concerns about the robust and systematic dismantling of the democratic institutions? Can the Hungarian case be a deterrent “example” for the West? Perhaps most importantly: are there any means to halt the spread of these new autocratic or outright fascist regimes?