Accounting for the Success of Right Wing Populist Discourses in Hungary

This paper explores how parties strategically use nationalist discourses in their populist appeals, in particular demonstrating the role historical legacies play in the success of populism in Hungary. Populist messages to the public can draw on narratives of authoritarianism, nationalism, and xenophobia. An alarming trend in Hungary is the mobilization of race and ethnicity by policy makers, namely the currently ruling conservative right Fidesz and ever-growing far right Jobbik party. Strong narratives of the past, or historical legacies, often underpin these rhetorical strategies and discourses (Pirro, 2014). One of the most contentious policy areas concerns the Hungarian diaspora living as minorities in neighbouring countries. Hungary has often made unilateral decisions about what rights the diaspora should have. Other countries have perceived such one-sided decision-making as a hostile infringement on sovereignty. Recently, right-wing populist parties have continued fueling tensions on this issue drawing on nationalist and revisionist sentiments. This single case study explores the discourses of right-wing populist actors as articulated in their positions on Hungarian diaspora. To understand the features of populism in Hungary the paper first examines how Fidesz and Jobbik discursively construct co-ethnic minorities within policy and popular discourse. Second, I advance causal arguments to address why some frames resonate with the public over others. Kitschelt (2001) asserts that convincing causal explanations must consider deep institutional legacy and shallow social factors and triggers. The paper considers how recent event triggers (shallow) might open space for 'issue ownership' by strategic parties, which gain salience and support by using historical legacy narratives to achieve legitimacy by telling voters a coherent story about the 'way things are' (deep). The paper contributes to the understudied literature on the reasons explaining the rise of populism in Central Eastern Europe by illustrating how particular framing can result in the success of populist parties.