A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Antiliberalism and Counter-Enlightenment for the 21st Century: Viktor Orbán's Illiberal Political Ideology
Authors: Suuronen, Ville
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Publishing place: CAMBRIDGE
Publication year: 2025
Journal:Government and Opposition
Journal name in sourceGovernment and Opposition
Journal acronym: GOV OPPOS
First page : 1
Last page: 21
Number of pages: 21
ISSN: 0017-257X
eISSN: 1477-7053
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/gov.2025.5
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1017/gov.2025.5
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/491561812
This article analyses the political speeches of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orb & aacute;n between 2014 and 2023 by applying the 'ideational approach'. Questioning the description of Orb & aacute;n as a politician whose career represents nothing but opportunism and kleptocracy, the article argues that his politics are driven and underpinned by an illiberal political ideology. Examining how Orb & aacute;n conceptualizes illiberalism in the realms of (1) Hungarian domestic politics; (2) foreign and global politics; and (3) cultural politics (understood in the Gramscian sense as a battle for fundamental values), this article offers a systematic analysis of Hungarian illiberalism and of the interrelations of its main ideological components. The article also examines how and why Orb & aacute;n portrays himself not only as the authentic voice of the Hungarian people, but also simultaneously as the genuine representative of original Europeanness.
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Funding information in the publication:
This article was funded by the Institute for Advanced Study (Tampere University, Finland) and by the Turku Institute for Advanced Studies (University of Turku, Finland).
