This thesis attempts to understand the reasons behind Hungary’s surge in populism in the years following the 2008 financial crisis. In particular it looks at the two major political parties in Hungary, Fidesz and Jobbik, and how they continue to maintain control over the Hungarian government despite the common theory that populist support deteriorates overtime. A key component of Populism is that it usually grows in times of crises. Particularly in Hungary I focus on the many crises that arose during Hungary’s turbulent history of occupation, especially their transition out of Communism. Along with the devastation caused by the 2008 financial crash. Hungary’s inability to completely transition into a full-fledged Democracy as well as the economic devastation they witnessed following 2008 has created an environment where Populism can thrive indefinitely.

The political parties Law and Justice (PiS) and Fidesz have over the years being on the tabloid for choosing different directions than other countries within the European union. With their Euroscepticism and rhetoric’s often criticizing the union for putting Europeans second before immigrants, the parties have become a well discussed topic around the continent. The rhetoric that has been used by the parties have been associated with nationalism and making different decisions than ruling parties around Europe, as an example preventing immigrants entering their countries during the refugee crisis of 2015. The question however is whether the parties are nationalistic as their critics say, and what other areas besides immigration that tells if the parties are nationalistic. Thus, this essay’s purpose is to analyze whether PiS and Fidesz are nationalistic parties. Using three concepts to analyze from; multiculturalism, citizenship and nation, this essay will show whether you can place PiS and Fidesz within ethnonationalism or cultural nationalism. The essay also contains charts, where the parties are placed within the two chosen nationalistic orientations.

Democracy around the world is threatened by autocratic leaders who wants to demolish the fundamental democratic values. In this essay the aim is to get an understanding of how democratic backsliding in Poland and Hungary appears and what differences and similarities there is between the two countries and to see if there is a generalization. The theory is constructed by Bermeo, Haggard and Kaufmans definition and research of democratic backsliding. To be able to specify the research Levitsky and Ziblatts four warnings signs of autocratic tendencies have been used.  The time frame is between 2010 – 2022 because it is when the Hungarian party Fidesz was elected. The study is a qualitative comparative study. The result of the research could show that there is a democratic backsliding happening in both countries and there is a lot of similarities between them. Most of the backsliding is due to the changes in legislation and the political system.

How does political power affect populist rhetoric? The research on populism has failed to describe the difference in discourse between populist parties in opposition and in government. The previous academic debate has consisted of two fundamental areas of focus; definitions that are centered around identity formations, and the political or societal effects of populism in power, referring to issues related to democracy and rule of law. This study argues that populist rhetoric contains both elements and should therefore be studied as such. It aims to increase the understanding of how populism is expressed before and during governance, and how this differs. Using rule of law as an analytical measuring instrument and tools and theories from discourse analysis, Fidesz, the ruling party of Hungary, is examined by qualitative text analysis. The study finds that the idea of “us” as the people and “them” as the elite survives with populism in power, where “them” as the elite no longer consists of domestic political opponents, but rather international political opponents and organizations. Further it finds that the values connected to rule of law are abandoned in favor of a more technical meaning.

Ever since its inception, the EU’s main goal has always been to spread its values of democracy and freedom. The EU’s success in spreading these values has been great until recently when some of the member states have gone through an autocratization. The clearest case of this is Hungary, which can no longer be seen as a democracy, due to its autocratization. Seeing as the EU has certain demands in democracy for countries that want to join the EU, it is strange that they let Hungary continue to be a part of the EU.  This paper will examine what the EU has done to hinder Hungary’s autocratization through its normative power. The results show that the EU has penalised Hungary in terms of sanctions and an article-7 procedure. Though, the EU is far away from throwing Hungary out of the EU, mostly because it is near impossible for the EU to exclude Hungary from the EU. The only way that Hungary can leave the EU is by their own choice.

This research touches the basics of a clothes-trading process. The process occurs as an outsideparty is being politically absorbed by a mainstream party which aim is to oust the smaller party from the electoral arena. The outside-party would ensure survival by dismiss its policy dimension, thus moving towards an opposite strategic direction away from the incoming mainstream party. The toolkit is taking from the PSO-theory by Bonnie M. Meguid (2008) in order to describe the clothes-trading process by each step as a party strategy. It is a defeat fire with fire type of conflict, with the end not yet discovered, but assumed to be a total exchange between the parties’ issue ownership. So far it is too early to predict the outcome. Further studies have to be made on the future elections in order to elaborate the clothes-trading process more in detail. But the research has set the basics of how and why such a process would occur.

This thesis investigates discursive identity creation used in the discourses of the governing populist political parties of Hungary and Poland, Fidesz and PiS. Considering the important role construction of social identities play in populism, this article argues that we need to enhance our understanding of how the Self and the Other is described and used in populist discourse. The analytical framework draws on earlier literature from the broader field of populism as well as from the fields of Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA), security studies and discourse analysis. In this thesis, the Self is conceptualised as Hungary and Poland, respectively, and the Other is conceptualised as the West. The findings show that Hungary and Poland are depicted as unique, strong and brave, and that “the people” share a common and distinctive culture. Meanwhile, the West is depicted as controlling and not to be trusted. The historical victimization of the nation in relation to the West is important, and used to legitimize the current relationship of the two. Moreover, both discourses use similar rhetoric strategies to defend these identities. However, the analysis also points to differences between the discourse used by PiS and the discourse used by Fidesz, where the latter is more extreme in its identity construction. Hungary is depicted as more unique and the identity of the West entail a more radical degree of Otherness carrying a more direct threat towards the existence of the Hungarian nation. In the discourse used by PiS, on the other hand, the West does pose a threat to the sovereignty of the Polish nation, but Poland simultaneously identifies with and wishes to integrate further with the West. Lastly, the findings show that the discursive identity construction of Hungary, Polandand the West is closely related to new legislation planned or implemented by the parties, and is hence not only a rhetoric device.

This thesis examines the intersection of cultural discourse and economic policies of the Hungarian populist radical right party, Fidesz. It classifies the cultural discourse of the governing party as neo-traditionalist by examining how the party's leader, Viktor Orbán, rhetorically shapes his vision of the nation, espouses traditional values, and uses missionary politics to create a personalized moral code under the guise of cultural Christianity. It examines the government's economic policies of nationalization and re-privatization, crony capitalism, and national work program within a neo-feudalist classification. This research finds that the neo-feudalist economic policies of Fidesz serve as a reinforcement mechanism that legitimizes the cultural discourse espoused by Orbán. Furthermore, the neo-feudal economy is reshaping the social system into a highly centralized and hierarchical structure and having lasting macroeconomic effects, including demographic issues and increasing levels of wealth inequality. This emerging illiberal model of governance is not only reshaping Hungary's political, economic, and social systems, but also contributing to a larger movement away from the tenets of liberal democracy within CEE. Keywords Neo-traditionalism, Neo-feudalism, Delayed transformational fatigue,...

The subject of this diploma thesis is to examine and compare the ideological and programmatic definition of Fidesz and PiS, their development in time and their current actions and policy-making since forming their single-party governments in 2010 in Hungary and 2015 in Poland, respectively. This work also focuses on the development in both countries during the transformation from communism towards democracy, and sets out to answer what preconditions have formed the demand for populist radical right ideology both in Hungary and Poland. Based on the theory of populist radical right framework, this thesis concludes that, in addition to the negative aspects of political and economic transformation, historical narratives and prejudices against minorities by a significant part of the Hungarian and Polish societies have also played a crucial role in creating a climate for demand for the populist radical right. In the third chapter, this thesis finds a high volatility in the ideological development of both parties, especially in regards to Fidesz, and attributes these considerable ideological and programmatic changes in part to reaction of Fidesz and PiS towards changes in the party system in both Hungary and Poland. However, since 2006 the ideology of both parties has become increasingly consistent with...

This diploma thesis focuses on comparison of ANO 2011 and Fidesz based on their origin, development, organizational structure, program and ideology, and role of the party leader. Beside the introduction of various organizational party types and concept of "genetical code" by Angelo Panebianco, the parties are examined also by concept of populism defined on the basis of the book by Cas Mudde and C.R. Kaltwasser. Based on two case studies of ANO 2011 and Fidesz the goal of this paper was to find out similar and different features and explore their impact on democratic system. As long as these two parties have different organizational structure, one of the important features is dominant role of their founder not only in the foundation of the party but also in the following development towards centralized organization and personalization. The other common feature is populism which appears to be an important variable affecting the party's influence on the democratic system. However, the character of populism is different in these cases. Particular political system and electoral system also play important role in the potential decline of democracy.