Neoliberalism, crisis and authoritarian–ethnicist reaction: The ascendancy of the Orbán regime

Abstract

This paper analyses the seemingly contradictory fusion between authoritarianism and neoliberalism in Hungary under the Orbán regime. Since coming into power in 2010 on a popular backlash against austerity, the hard-right Fidesz–KDNP government, led by Viktor Orbán, has carried out a root-and-branch transformation of Hungarian society. While officially proposing a break with neoliberalism at home and abroad, the paper argues that the Orbán regime has rather deepened it, producing a specific variety of ‘authoritarian neoliberalism’, which skilfully combines some of the central tenets of neoliberalism (maintenance of a balanced budget, introduction of a flat tax system and the pursuit of regressive social policies) with ‘ethnicist–populist’ measures that seek to co-opt, coerce or manufacture consensus among subaltern groups in society against alleged ‘enemies’ of the Hungarian nation. While Orbán’s ‘illiberal’ politics have been strongly criticized by neoliberal institutions, such as the IMF and the EU, they have taken little concrete action against the Hungarian government. We argue that the reason for this is pragmatic: the Orbán regime has not only been a model for neoliberal austerity in Europe since the 2008 crisis, but also its authoritarian and xenophobic policies are not that different from other EU states.

The Accumulative State

“…Targeting the figure of George Soros in the most recent parliamentary election was a strategic move to connect the enemy images of the ‘reckless global investor’ and the ‘fearful migrant’, portraying both as threats to the vulnerable working class, and allowing Orbán to pose in the role of the protector. Framing the nation as a community of solidarity is a strategic step that implies an essential source of the state’s legitimacy (Fabry 2019 ; Szombati 2018 ). While effectively conducting a divisive politics of class warfare from above, Fidesz portrays itself as the guarantor of unity and security amid the looming threats of international migration and terrorism.…”

Capitalism after communism: The triumph of neoliberalism, nationalist reaction and waiting for the leftist wave

“…In the context of Eastern Europe, it can clearly be said, while the nationalist reaction to neoliberalism has become a universal mechanism and the search for ‘external enemies’ has become, as in Poland and Hungary, a practised way to relieve political tensions and legitimise the ruling power (Fabry, 2019), a change in socio-economic policy may be the fastest way to regain control from right-wing populist regimes (Bugarič, 2019). However, parties such as PiS in Poland do not have competition from the economic left, as the existing left focuses on cultural and identity issues, such as women’s rights and sexual minorities, leaving economic matters to the right-wing hegemony.…”

Varieties of Dependency, Varieties of Populism: Neoliberalism and the Populist Countermovements in the Visegrád Four

“…Despite the benefits of dependent development, the current crisis of democracy in Hungary and Poland demonstrates that some expectations were over-optimistic. An emerging stream of research has proposed that populism is a Polanyian countermovement (Kalb 2009;Hann 2018;Ost 2018;Szombati 2018), provoked by dependent-neoliberal integration in the global capitalist economy (Johnson & Barnes 2015;Shields 2015;Gagyi 2016;Fabry 2019). However, this emerging literature is still vague about exactly how dependency is related to the populist countermovements.…”