Performing crisis to create your enemy: Europe vs. the EU in Hungarian populist discourse

IF 2.3 Q1 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS Frontiers in Political Science Pub Date : 2023-05-18 DOI:10.3389/fpos.2023.1032470
R. Sata
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引用次数: 1

Abstract

Hungary has become the leader of democratic backsliding within Europe, with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán turning into the staunchest critic of the EU, despite a consistent support for the European project among the wider public and Hungary being a net benefiter of EU membership. Using a systematic analysis of all speeches, statements and interviews of the PM for his three consecutive governments 2010–2022, I claim the radicalization of this Eurosceptic discourse is a direct consequence of a continuous populist performance of crisis that demands the creation of images of friends and foes to unite and mobilize people. Orbán relies on discursive processes of othering to construct to his liking both “the good people” and its enemies, who are to be blamed for the crises. Anybody can become an enemy in the various crises that follow each other. At the same time, discursive conceptions of Europe vs. the EU remain in the center of the discourse to establish Hungary's European belonging as well as opposition to EU for policies that allegedly people reject. While the economic crisis pits an economic “us” against the former socialist political elite, foreign capital, and the EU and IMF that are all blamed for Hungary's near-bankruptcy situation. The refugee crisis redefines both “us” and “others”, the “self” is distinguished using ethno-linguistic criteria and identitarian Christianity to signal the cultural distance from the Muslim migrant “other” as well as multicultural EU. The pandemic crisis is performed only to further exacerbate the conflict between the illiberal “self” and the liberal “others”, where supranational EU, promoting multiculturalism, gender ideology or neoliberal policies not only threatens the very existence of traditional-national lifestyles but endangers the people themselves. With each crisis performed, newer and newer conflict lines between various “European self's” and “threatening EU” are identified, each adding to the radicalization of Orbán's discourse. The demonization of the EU and the pretext of saving Europe using these false discursive constructs enables Orbán strengthen his grip of power and drift to authoritarianism.
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上演危机制造敌人:匈牙利民粹主义话语中的欧洲与欧盟
匈牙利已成为欧洲民主倒退的领导者,总理维克托·奥尔班成为欧盟最坚定的批评者,尽管广大公众一直支持欧洲项目,匈牙利是欧盟成员国的净受益者。通过对首相2010-2022年连续三届政府的所有演讲、声明和采访的系统分析,我声称这种疑欧言论的激进化是持续的民粹主义危机表现的直接后果,这种危机需要塑造朋友和敌人的形象来团结和动员人民。奥尔班依靠他人的话语过程来构建他喜欢的“好人”和敌人,他们应该为危机负责。在接踵而至的各种危机中,任何人都可能成为敌人。与此同时,欧洲与欧盟的争论概念仍然是建立匈牙利的欧洲归属以及反对欧盟政策的话语中心,这些政策据称是人们拒绝的。虽然经济危机使经济“我们”与前社会主义政治精英、外国资本、欧盟和国际货币基金组织对立,而这些都被认为是匈牙利濒临破产的原因。难民危机重新定义了“我们”和“他人”,使用民族语言标准和同一主义基督教来区分“自我”,以表明与穆斯林移民“他人”以及多元文化欧盟的文化距离。疫情危机的实施只会进一步加剧不自由的“自我”和自由的“他人”之间的冲突,在这种冲突中,超国家的欧盟,促进多元文化、性别意识形态或新自由主义政策,不仅威胁到传统民族生活方式的存在,而且危及人民自身。随着每一次危机的发生,各种“欧洲自我”和“威胁欧盟”之间的冲突线越来越新,每一条都加剧了奥尔班话语的激进化。对欧盟的妖魔化和利用这些虚假的话语结构拯救欧洲的借口,使奥尔班加强了对权力的控制,并转向了威权主义。
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来源期刊
Frontiers in Political Science
Frontiers in Political Science Social Sciences-Political Science and International Relations
CiteScore
2.90
自引率
0.00%
发文量
135
审稿时长
13 weeks
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