More Power, Less Support: The Fidesz Government and the Coronavirus Pandemic in Hungary

Agnes Batory

doi:10.1017/gov.2022.3

Abstract

AbstractConventional wisdom suggests that populists thrive in times of crisis. However, for populist radical right parties in government, managing a genuine calamity is both an opportunity and a challenge. On the one hand, crises provide the opportunity to project leadership and quell opposition to their rule. On the other hand, crisis response requires competence. Probably the most successful governing populist radical right party in the European Union, Viktor Orbán's Fidesz in Hungary, did not resolve this tension entirely adequately in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the party consolidated its grip on power, the high human and economic costs of mismanaging the second and third waves of the pandemic started to erode its popular support. In ideational terms, the COVID-19 pandemic accentuated the populist, nativist and authoritarian tendencies that had long characterized the party.

Highlights

Conventional wisdom suggests that populists thrive in times of crisis
This article in the special issue investigates this tension with respect to a key example of a governing populist radical right (PRR) party, Fidesz in Hungary, led by one of the EU’s longest-serving prime ministers, Viktor Orbán, as a case study of policy decisions and narratives evolving as a function of the contradictory pressures of populism and responsible government
How can we characterize the Fidesz government’s policy response to the pandemic? How did Fidesz frame the pandemic response politically, and to what extent can we detect the main ideational tenets of the populist radical right in this framing? And to what extent was the Fidesz government able to capitalize on the crisis to boost its popularity or, to what extent did the pandemic erode support? These are the main research questions that structure the analysis below

Summary

Introduction

Conventional wisdom suggests that populists thrive in times of crisis. for populist radical right parties in government, managing a genuine calamity is both an opportunity and a challenge. This article in the special issue investigates this tension with respect to a key example of a governing populist radical right (PRR) party, Fidesz in Hungary, led by one of the EU’s longest-serving prime ministers, Viktor Orbán, as a case study of policy decisions and narratives evolving as a function of the contradictory pressures of populism and responsible government.

Results

Conclusion