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

Agnes Batory*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract (may include machine translation)

Conventional 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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1017-1033
Number of pages17
JournalGovernment and Opposition
Volume59
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 22 Feb 2022

Keywords

  • European Union
  • Fidesz
  • Hungary
  • pandemic
  • populism

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