Hungary

Kim, Seongcheol Book Pa — Published Ve sion Hunga y P o ided in Coope a ion wi h: WZB Be lin Social Science Cen e Sugges ed Ci a ion: Kim, Seongcheol (2020) : Hunga y, In: Ka sambekis, Gio gos S a akakis, Yannis (Ed.): Populism and he Pandemic. A Collabo a i e Repo , Uni e si y o Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, pp. 29-30 This Ve sion is a ailable a : h ps://hdl.handle.ne /10419/228490 S anda d-Nu zungsbedingungen: Die Dokumen e au EconS o dü en zu eigenen wissenscha lichen Zwecken und zum P i a geb auch gespeiche und kopie we den. Sie dü en die Dokumen e nich ü ö en liche ode komme zielle Zwecke e iel äl igen, ö en lich auss ellen, ö en lich zugänglich machen, e eiben ode ande wei ig nu zen. So e n die Ve asse die Dokumen e un e Open-Con en -Lizenzen (insbesonde e CC-Lizenzen) zu Ve ügung ges ell haben soll en, gel en abweichend on diesen Nu zungsbedingungen die in de do genann en Lizenz gewäh en Nu zungs ech e. Te ms o use: Documen s in EconS o may be sa ed and copied o you pe sonal and schola ly pu poses. You a e no o copy documen s o public o comme cial pu poses, o exhibi he documen s publicly, o make hem publicly a ailable on he in e ne , o o dis ibu e o o he wise use he documen s in public. I he documen s ha e been made a ailable unde an Open Con en Licence (especially C ea i e Commons Licences), you may exe cise u he usage igh s as speci ied in he indica ed licence. h ps://c ea i ecommons.o g/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Populism & he Pandemic Repo POPULISMUS In e en ions No. 7, 2020 29 Seongcheol Kim 8. Hunga y Populism in Hunga y has been a subjec o in e na ional a en ion especially in he pas decade, one ha began wi h Vik o O bán’s Fidesz winning an unp eceden ed wo- hi ds majo i y o sea s in he 2010 pa liamen a y elec ions. While Fidesz had ea u ed a social-populis discou se pi ing ‘ he people’ and ‘ he new majo i y’ agains ‘ he a is oc acy’ in powe ollowing hen- PM Fe enc Gyu csány’s in amous ‘Őszöd speech’ o 2006, O bán’s ou i now shi ed gea s on o an ins i u ionalis 75 discou se o na ional ha mony a he han an agonis ic di ision and, ollowing i s landslide ic o y, decla ed in a pa liamen a y esolu ion ha ‘na ional uni y’ had p e ailed and ha he o e s had gi en he pa y a manda e o ins i u e a ‘Sys em o Na ional Coope a ion’ (NER) ounded on ‘peace, eedom, and acco d.76 Wha has been cha ac e is ic o Fidesz’s pos -2010 discou se is an au ho i a ian ins i u ionalism o enac ing an exclusi e claim o he ‘na ion’ in a me hodical, adminis a i e, la gely non-an agonis ic manne ia wo- hi ds majo i y while e ec i ely igno ing o bypassing ( a he han seeking di ec con on a ion wi h) opposi ion. Populism akes on an ins i u ing unc ion o his ins i u ionalism by making he bounda ies o he new o de in elligible, ha ing p e iously de ined he O he o ‘ he people’ (albei no in au ho i a ian e ms a he ime) as a small, p i ileged, disc edi ed ‘a is oc acy.’ Simila ly, he ‘S op So os’ campaign ha climaxed wi h he 2018 elec ions ep esen s a phase in which populism, in close conjunc ion wi h na ionalism and na i ism, e- eme ges in Fidesz’s discou se o e-de ine he iden i y o ‘ he na ion’ agains e e newe enemies in he o m o he So os ‘empi e’ and i s alleged agen s a home and ab oad. In sho , Fidesz’s pos -2010 ule is cha ac e ized by a cons an in e play be ween momen s o he poli ical as an agonism (o which populism is one possible mani es a ion) and a non- an agonis ic ins i u ionalized no mali y o ‘business as usual.’ The same holds o he go e nmen ’s esponse o he COVID-19 pandemic. As widely epo ed in in e na ional media, he wo- hi ds Fidesz majo i y in pa liamen adop ed on 30 Ma ch a so-called ‘Enabling Ac ’ g an ing he go e nmen eme gency powe s wi hou any kind o buil -in ime limi , which made he law unusual among i s Eu opean coun e pa s. Impo an ly, he go e nmen decided o pu he bill up o an ea ly o e on 23 Ma ch, equi ing a ou - i hs majo i y unde he ules o p ocedu e, which i hen p edic ably los . By designing he eme gency legisla ion so as o make i unaccep able o he en i e spec um o opposi ion pa ies – om Jobbik o he Hunga ian Socialis Pa y (MSZP) – and hen o cing an ea ly o e ha i knew i would lose, Fidesz e ec i ely s aged an an agonis ic on ie o go e nmen s. opposi ion as he ounding momen o he COVID-19 c isis egime: he go e nmen de ending he eme gency legisla ion in e ms o ‘na ional uni y’ on he one hand, he opposi ion supposedly placing i sel ou side ‘ he na ion’ by opposing he law on he o he – and O bán smugly elling opposi ion MPs ha ‘we a e going o esol e his c isis e en wi hou you.’77 I is in his discu si e con ex ha Fidesz’s o he wise un-o - he-mill, holding- oge he ins i u ionalism du ing he pandemic – wi h slogans such as ‘Le ’s ake ca e o each o he ’ – appea s in a no so innocuous ligh : he ‘we’ o ‘us’ implies a ounding exclusion o hose who e used o wo k in he in e es o ‘na ional uni y’ in he hou o g ea es need. Fidesz poli ician and p esiden o he pa liamen László Kö é only made his implici exclusion bla an ly explici 75 Unde s ood he e ollowing Laclau as a concep ual opposi e o populism: whe eas he la e cons uc s an an agonis ic di ision in socie y (be ween a popula subjec and a powe bloc), ins i u ionalism p oduces a non- an agonis ic image o socie y as a ield o di e ences. E nes o Laclau, On Populis Reason, 2005, London: Ve so. 76 O ice o he Na ional Assembly, ‘The P og amme o Na ional Coope a ion,’ 22 May 2010, h ps://www.pa lamen .hu/i om39/00047/00047_e.pd (accessed 18 May 2020). 77 Ma ianna Bi ó, ‘O bán: Ez a álságo önök nélkül is meg ogjuk oldani,’ Index.hu, 23 Ma ch 2020, h ps://index.hu/bel old/2020/03/23/pa lamen /o ban_holnap_ eggel_ issza ehe ik_ha_ugy_la jak/ (accessed 18 May 2020). Populism & he Pandemic Repo POPULISMUS In e en ions No. 7, 2020 30 when he claimed in an Ap il in e iew ha ‘[ ]his opposi ion is no pa o he Hunga ian na ion’ o opposing he Enabling Ac and cou ing in e na ional c i icism o he go e nmen : Abo e all, le ’s ecognize clea ly ha on his ma e , he in e na ional objec ion and he domes ic opposi ion c i icism do no di e . The wo a e one and he same. The Hunga ian le -libe al opposi ion is pa o he global, an i-na ional ne wo k, he Wes e n Eu opean opinion-make s base hei own p opaganda campaign on i s delibe a ely alse in o ma ion and slande .78 To be su e, he logic o his exclusion is ha dly a populis , bu a he an au ho i a ian na ionalis one ha delegi imizes opponen s as o eign-like and ‘an i-na ional’79 – a ecu ing s ain in Fidesz’s discou se since he 1990s. A conspi acis populism o accusing he global mega- ich powe s- ha -be, such as Bill Ga es o indeed Geo ge So os, o sp eading COVID-19 – a claim commonly hea d in he weekly ‘Co ona demons a ions’ in Ge man ci ies – has no been he message o he Fidesz go e nmen ; ins ead, he la e ’s accusa ions ha e been di ec ed a an opposi ion allegedly ailing o s ick wi h ‘ he na ion’ in he momen o c isis. This s a egy is a elling one gi en how pa y compe i ion in Hunga y has been slowly bu su ely shi ing owa d a p o- s. an i-NER logic, wi h he libe al pa ies and Jobbik allying behind uni y candida es o sco e nume ous successes in he 2019 local elec ions (as well as he pa liamen a y by-elec ion in Dunaúj á os, Jobbik’s lone single-membe -dis ic win om he 2018 elec ions). Ye he NER as a hegemonic o ma ion is p edica ed on a di e en ial, agmen ed opposi ion ha canno o m a uni ed on agains Fidesz – a ba ie ha now inally appea s o be c umbling. In designa ing he en i e opposi ion as a uni a y an i-na ional bloc – including i s e s while a - igh (and now inc easingly de- adicalized) compe i o Jobbik – Fidesz is ge ing a head s a on wha was al eady expec ed o be a di y and ha d- ough 2022 elec ion campaign, in which he ep oduc ion o he wo- hi ds majo i y o de agains a mo e uni ed opposi ion will be a s ake. * * * Seongcheol Kim is a Resea ch Fellow a he WZB Be lin Social Science Cen e . His esea ch is cen e ed on he applica ion o pos - ounda ional discou se heo y o he s udy o pa y poli ics in a compa a i e Eu opean pe spec i e, especially in ela ion o na ionalism, populism, and adical democ acy. 78 ‘Bunke ben á ják a csoda egy e ,’ Demok a a, 28 Ap il 2020, h ps://demok a a.hu/magya o szag/bunke ben- a jak-a-csoda egy e -2-237021 (accessed 18 May 2020). 79 Fo he concep ual dis inc ion be ween populism and na ionalism, see also Benjamin De Cleen & Yannis S a akakis, ‘Dis inc ions and A icula ions: A Discou se Theo e ical F amewo k o he S udy o Populism and Na ionalism,’ Ja nos , 24(4), 2017, pp. 301-319.