The composite nationalism of Hungary [in: Baldi (ed.): The New Politics of Nationalism in Contemporary Europe, Agenda Publising]

I had the honor of having a chapter I wrote published in the volume The New Politics of Nationalism in Contemporary Europe (Agenda Publishing, 2025), edited by Gregory C. Baldi. The chapter is titled The composite nationalism of Hungary and examines the complexity of nationalism in the Orbán regime from a historical and contemporary perspective.

Hungary: Constitutionalized Populist Dictatorship

I will participate at Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN) Annual World Convention.

PANEL CE5 Populism and Authoritarianism in Central Europe

Thursday May 6, 10.00-11.30 AM EST (Eastern European Time, EET:4 PM - 5.30 PM)

CHAIR

Zsuzsa Csergő (Queen’s U, Canada)

PAPERS

Courtney Blackington (UNC Chapel Hill, US): Partisanship, Populists, and Plane Crashes: Can Populist Partisanship Drive Conspiratorial Beliefs?

Robert Sata: (Central European U, Austria): Illiberal Populism: A Synergy of Xenophobic Nationalism,

Identitarian Religion and Anti-Gender Mobilization?

Attila Antal (Eötvös Loránd U, Hungary): Hungary: Constitutionalized Populist Dictatorship

Valentin Behr (U of Strasbourg, France): Is There a “Populist” Ruling Elite? Insights from Poland. Co-authored with Andrzej Turkowski (U of Warsaw, Poland)

DISCUSSANT

Lenka Bustikova (Arizona State U, US)

Solidarity and Nationalism after the Hungarian Transition at CBEES Conference Stockholm

I am participating at CBEES Annual Conference 2019: "Central and Eastern Europe 1989-2019: Orders and Freedoms", 7-8 November 2019, Södertörn University. I will hold a lecture with the title

Solidarity and Nationalism after the Hungarian Transition: From Liberal Democracy to Authoritarian Populism

It seems to be that Hungary under the Orbán-era has become one of the main fighters for sovereignty after the Hungarian regime change. In this paper I am trying to challenge this over-simplification and show the many faces of the system. According to my hypothesis under the populist-nationalist surface of the Orbán-regime there is disappointing compromise between the government and the globalized capitalism. The most state direct (subsidies, tax benefits) and indirect (labour law against the employees) aids have been given by the “nationalist Orbán’s governments” since the regime change. In this sense I put an emphasize on the investigation this new from of post-modern nationalism which is based on discursive fight for sovereignty, but at the same time sacrifice it in the context of neoliberal capitalism. In this sense, I will analyse the pact between the Orbán’s governments and neoliberal (especially German) companies. The other face of Orbán’s nationalism is much more brutal and relating to the hate campaign against refugees and migrants which has destroyed the traditionally weak Hungarian solidarity networks after 1989. I am convinced because of the mentioned pact with neoliberal capitalism which damaged the state and national sovereignty, the regime has found a way to over-emphasize the fight for sovereignty. That is why the Hungarian nationalism has been articulated in the last few years in the framework of civilizationism. Emphasizing and analysing this embarrassing phenomenon, the abdication of sovereignty and the brutal fight for it, are the main goals of this paper. 

The program of the event is here and the abstracts are available from here.

Populism and Nationalism in Eastern Europe: Success for the Right, Failure for the Left? | ECPR General Conference, Hamburg 22-25 August 2018

I have rewritten my paper presented at 2nd Annual Workshop of Populism Specialist Group at the Political Studies Association March 23-24, 2018. This new draft has been presented at the ECPR General Conference 22-26 August 2018, Hamburg, Germany.

Abstract

In Eastern Europe the successful populist parties are mostly Right-wing nationalist (for instance the Hungarian Fidesz and the Polish Law and Justice) or exceptionally Left-wing populist (for instance Slovak Direction – Social Democracy in Slovakia) with a huge nationalist sentiment. It seems to be that in this region populism and nationalism have been closely related or merged. Moreover, following the traditional literature on populism (Ghita Ionescu, Ernest Gellner), we can easily say that our contemporary “populist Zeitgeist” can be seen as some kind of (post)modern nationalism. In this paper, I am dealing with the problem, how can we define and analyse populism in Eastern Europe. It is hard to say that populism and nationalism have nothing to do with each other, but I am convinced that populism cannot be identified with nationalism. That is why, I introduce the term of historical-theoretical complex of nationalism and populism.

According to post-Marxist, critical and discursive literature (Ernesto Laclau, Chantal Mouffe) it is obviously that populism is not just a Right-wing phenomenon and there is a thing which can be called transnational Left-wing populism (Benjamin Moffitt, Panos Panayotu). This version of populism is not an unknow phenomenon in this part of Europe, because the Communist regimes before 1989 a transnational populist agenda has been created (Antal, 2017b), but the Left-wing populism is seriously underrepresented in contemporary Eastern Europe.

I am investigating here the political theoretical (Antal, 2017a) and historical background of nationalist populism of our time in Eastern Europe analysing examples from the following countries of this region: Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania. My main thought is that the politics in this region has always been populist in that sense there is a constant need to contrast “the people” (as a large powerless group) and “the elite” (a small powerful group). This “never ending” political tradition of Eastern European populism turned up in the history once in nationalist and other times in transnational perspectives. However, the contemporary Right-wing nationalist populism means a relatively new phenomenon, but it has deeply historical ground in the interwar Right-wing nationalism. According to my other hypothesis, the governing Right-wing populist parties (especially the Fidesz in Hungary) use the nationalist discourse to create permanent political enemies inside and outside of the nation (Brubaker argues that this kind of nationalism appears as civilizationsim). These parties belong to the political elite and use populist discourse to cover up their corrupt politics which does not serve the interest of the people. In my view there is a new chapter in historical-theoretical complex of nationalism and populism in Eastern Europe, this is the emergence of populist entrepreneurs using nationalism to maintain their governing power based on populism, which raises several dangers.

I will put forward here that the contemporary Right-wing in Eastern Europe was able to rebuild its nationalism as a 21^st century populism and the Left said goodbye its nationalist and populist roots and did not reconfigure its populism in transnational scales.

The new draft paper is available at my Academia.edu

The presentation is on my Issuu

Illiberal democracy in Central and Eastern Europe. What – if anything – can the EU do?

I am participating at ECSA-C Biennial Conference taking place Toronto May 9-11, 2018. I will discuss several problems relating to illiberalism and populism at the Roundtable: Illiberal democracy in Central and Eastern Europe. What – if anything – can the EU do? which will chaired by Achim Hurrelman. The participants: Andrea Wagner, Maria Popova, David Ost.

The program of the conference is available from here.

Nationalist Populism and Iliberalism in Hungary - Lecture in Canada

The Jean Monnet Chair “Democracy in the European Union” at Carleton University, Canada will host a research lecture, Nationalist Populism and Illiberalism in Hungary: Historical Origins, Current Trajectories, featuring me.

The draft paper is available on Academia.edu.

Nationalist Populism and Illiberalism in Hungary from Antal Attila

Populism and Nationalism from an Eastern European Perspective

I am preparing for the 2nd Annual Workshop of Populism Specialist Group at the Political Studies Association. The workshop will be held March 23-24, 2018 at University of Bath. Its title is the following: Defining Populism: Concepts, Contexts, Genealogies.

My draft paper:

Populism and Nationalismfrom an Eastern European Perspective

Abstract

In Eastern Europe the successful populist parties are mostly right-wing nationalist (for instance the Hungarian Fidesz and the Polish Law and Justice) or exceptionally left-wing populist (for instance Slovak Direction – Social Democracy in Slovakia) with a huge nationalist sentiment. It seems to be that in this region populism and nationalism have been closely related or merged. Moreover, following the traditional literature on populism (Ghita Ionescu, Ernest Gellner), we can easily say that our contemporary “populist Zeitgeist” can be seen as some kind of (post)modern nationalism. In this paper, I am dealing with the problem, how can we define and analyse populism in Eastern Europe. It is hard to say that populism and nationalism have nothing to do with each other, but I am convinced that populism cannot be identified with nationalism. That is why, I introduce the term of historical-theoretical complex of nationalism and populism. According to post-Marxist, critical and discursive literature (Ernesto Laclau, Chantal Mouffe) it is obviously that populism is not just a right-wing phenomenon and there is a thing which can be called transnational left-wing populism (Benjamin Moffitt, Panos Panayotu). This version of populism is not an unknow phenomenon in this part of Europe, because the Communist regimes before 1989 a transnational populist agenda has been created (Antal, 2017b), but the Left-wing populism is seriously underrepresented in contemporary Eastern Europe. I am investigating here the political theoretical (Antal, 2017a) and historical background of nationalist populism of our time in Eastern Europe analysing examples from the following countries of this region: Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania. My main thought is that the politics in this region has always been populist in that sense there is a constant need to contrast “the people” (as a large powerless group) and “the elite” (a small powerful group). This “never ending” political tradition of Eastern European populism turned up in the history once in nationalist and other times in transnational perspectives. However, the contemporary Right-wing nationalist populism means a relatively new phenomenon, but it has deeply historical ground in the interwar Right-wing nationalism. According to my other hypothesis, the governing Right-wing populist parties (especially the Fidesz in Hungary) use the nationalist discourse to create permanent political enemies inside and outside of the nation (Brubaker argues that this kind of nationalism appears as civilizationsim). These parties belong to the political elite and use populist discourse to cover up their corrupt politics which does not serve the interest of the people. In my view there is a new chapter in historical-theoretical complex of nationalism and populism in Eastern Europe, this is the emergence of populist entrepreneurs using nationalism to maintain their governing power based on populism, which raises several dangers.

The draft paper can be downloaded from here.

Populism and Nationalism from an Eastern European Perspective from Antal Attila

The program is available from here: