“Eastern Opening” Policy as Political Marketing: Populism and Hungary’s Relations with China under the Orbán Government

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this study, we focus on the nexus between the populist domestic politics of Hungary and the Hungarian foreign policy. We find that conventional explanations involving pragmatism and nationalism are limited, so we take the analytical approach of political marketing to understand the rhetoric and behavior of the Orbán government, with special reference to its relations with China. We argue that through its high-profile “Opening to the East” policy, the Orbán government attempted, with mixed outcomes, to communicate its foreign policy promises and results as persuasion and contestation to its domestic audience largely for its own political gains.