The Role of Foreign Policy-related Issues on the Rise of Right-wing Populism: The Case of Hungary.


Ceydilek E.

2018 EISA Annual Conference, Praha, Czech Republic, 12 - 15 September 2018

  • Publication Type: Conference Paper / Unpublished
  • City: Praha
  • Country: Czech Republic
  • Middle East Technical University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

If the rise of the populist radical right in Europe is one fact, the other fact is that, as even a skin-deep look at their discourses will show, the roots of this rise mostly lay in the foreign policy-related issues such as EU membership, immigration policies and security. On the other hand, it is also observable that domestic political gains have priority for these European populist radical right (EPRR) leaders than the foreign policy goals. For this reason, foreign policy issues have an ambivalent nature for EPRR leaders: They are simultaneously the very root causes of the rise of EPRR leaders and parties and have a secondary role in the political agenda of these leaders. This study will have a deeper look at this ambivalent nature through focusing on the Hungarian case and more specifically Viktor Orban and his discourse on four main international developments, namely globalization, EU integration, global immigration flow and global terrorism.