How to get away with corruption? The discursive strategies of populist governments in Hungary and Turkey

Hungary and Turkey have been consistently ranked as the two most backsliding countries in terms of controlling corruption in Europe although their populist leaders (Orbán in Hungary and Erdogan in Turkey) took the power with strong anti-corruption claims promising to save “pure” people from “corrupt” elites. According to Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2022, Hungary and Turkey scored 42 and 36 out of 100 respectively, indicating a significant decline in their anti-corruption efforts. Hungary has been criticized for its lack of transparency and accountability, particularly in the judiciary, media, and public procurement sectors. Similarly, Turkey has witnessed a decline in its anti-corruption efforts, with concerns over the independence of its judiciary, and the suppression of media and civil society. Indeed, both countries have been marred by significant corruption scandals in recent years. Yet, both leaders managed to get away with corruption and stayed in power. Existing literature largely focused on the structural factors (such as media manipulation, and judicial interference) related to the institutional occupation and the redistributive policies and concentration of power over clientele to explain how both ruling leaders sheltered the regime from any major backlash and got away with large-scale corruption. Yet, we do not know much about the discursive strategies employed by political leaders when talking about corruption. In this article, we focus on the political communication techniques of both leaders on how not to take responsibility, muddy waters and highlight how ’the elite’ driven by self-interest is still more corrupt. The empirical evidence is derived from an in-depth analysis of selected corruption cases between 2018 and 2023 and speeches of two leaders directly or indirectly addressing these scandals.