Viktor Orbán gave his traditional annual speech, underling the need to strengthen Christianity, building Christian democracy in Hungary, while fighting liberalism. Christian Democrats surely cringe upon hearing this line of thought, leaving us all to wonder what an illiberal Christian democracy ought to look like.
We have reached the end of a three-year-long war in the media waged against Hír TV – the biggest anti-government television broadcaster in Hungary. The main battle took place between Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and oligarch Lajos Simicska, the owner of Hír TV, right before the TV conglomerate was conquered.
Republikon Institute organized a conference during which political analysts, activists, and representatives of Hungarian opposition parties discussed what to expect after the April elections.
Since the beginning of 2015 Viktor Orbán’s right-wing populist Fidesz government has produced one hate campaign after another, targeting migrants, the EU (or rather, “Brussels”), American financier George Soros and institutions connected to him, and even the UN.
When facing illiberal regimes, a stream of victories by populists and a seemingly unstoppable retreat of liberal democracy, should we also simply adept to the new reality and “make our peace”? I would argue that this is the strategy many people have been pursuing in Hungary.
Viktor Orbán’s right-wing populist Fidesz party won a third consecutive term in office with a two-thirds majority in the Hungarian parliamentary election of April 2018. Orbán is known for building an “illiberal state”, which he officially announced in the summer of 2014.
Dancing gorillas, yodeling Lithuanians on a canon, gypsy music combined with hip-hop – these are just a few productions from the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. For those who don’t follow every single aspect of the contest, the political significance of the event might still be rather interesting.
Viewing the galaxy as a strictly military dichotomy is a mistake – the Resistance is not only about the war against the First order. In reality, the Resistance has a wider role to play: it constructs an ideological and value-based community. In other words: they live in a political community.
The new conference series of the Republikon Institute and FNF called “Who should the liberal votes for?” continued on January 10, 2018, with a session with the participation of Gábor Fodor of the Hungarian Liberal Party (MLP).
With the recent rise of populism and great popluarity of populist politicians in Western European countries, it is more urgent than ever to talk about the fact that the hours of liberal democracies are numbered. However, the recently published ELF study shows a different, more optimistic picture.
