Opening the causal black box of democratic erosion: How far-right parties’ anti-gender politics undermine (liberal) democracy

How does the far right strategically use opposition to ‘gender’ and ‘gender ideology’ to build support and erode (liberal) democracy? Existing accounts of gender and the far right maintain that gender is ‘trivotal’ (Spierings 2020) – both trivial and pivotal – to far-right politics, and that the rise of illiberalism is facilitated by a ‘gendered modus operandi’ (Grzebalska and Petö 2017), thereby linking the current wave of democratic decline to the emergence of anti-gender politics. However, the specific causal role of "anti-gender" politics in democratic erosion remains undertheorised. This paper aims to theorise and explore the causal mechanisms connecting the far right’s anti-gender politics to democratic decline in Europe. Employing a comparative case study of the Hungarian far-right Fidesz party and the Austrian far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ), I explore the far right’s “anti-gender” politics in these two divergent contexts. While both parties have increasingly used anti-gender mobilisation in the past years, Fidesz in Hungary presents the hegemonic, single-party far-right rule and a paradigmatic case of democratic backsliding, the Austrian far right has, so far, only governed in coalition governments or proposed policies as an opposition party, operating within a liberal democratic framework. My analysis aims to demonstrate how the far right’s strategic use of “the family” and its equation with the ethnic core nation in both contexts helps justify and defend attacks against ‘gender’ and equality politics, ultimately legitimising the erosion of liberal democratic norms whilst enforcing a hierarchical, heteronormative order aligned with far-right ideology. Ultimately, this study emphasises that the far right’s anti-gender stance is not merely a side issue or ‘culture war’ tactic but a core mechanism through which the far right redefines citizenship rights, builds support, and reinforces its hierarchical worldview.