This paper focuses on degrees of political integration by discussing interactionbetween the socie... more This paper focuses on degrees of political integration by discussing interactionbetween the society and (democratic or authoritarian) political power. This isthe relationship, which determines legitimacy or non-legitimacy in a givenregime. The dichotomy of society and political power reflects upon the classic,simplified discourse of we and them in East-Central Europe in the 1970sand 1980s, which is usually applicable only in non-democratic
This chapter investigates the ways in which the post-2010 Fidesz government under Viktor Orbán us... more This chapter investigates the ways in which the post-2010 Fidesz government under Viktor Orbán used antisemitic tropes to configure George Soros—once hailed as a champion of market reform, freedom, and democracy—as an ontological threat to the Hungarian nation that should therefore be expunged from the country, together with “his networks,” including the Open Society Institute and Central European University. To show the government’s communication strategy in action, we combined an analysis of antisemitic discourse on the far right with a media content analysis of Sorosozás in government-backed online news portals from 2015 to 2020. We show that, from 2010, Orbán and his media allies discursively interpellated specific individuals and states as “financiers” and “global powers” as cogs in a global “Soros network.” In doing so, they drew upon well-established fifth-column narratives originally constructed and refined by ideologists from the Kádár era who employed a latent antisemitic ...
Democratization in Central Europe is a success story in historical perspective. Twenty years afte... more Democratization in Central Europe is a success story in historical perspective. Twenty years after the spectacular collapse of communism, most countries, which had belonged to the ”buffer zone” between West Germany and the Soviet Union, now belong to the European Union. The transition was relatively short and was characterized by negotiations, self-limiting behavior, and nonviolence of the participants (with the exception of the Romanian revolution). The ideas of 1989 included negative freedom, free market liberalism, consensual democracy, civil society, and the wish to return to Europe, determined by the social, political, and economic legacies of communism. The short transition was followed by a longer and more difficult consolidation, which was parallel with economic restructuring, privatization, and deregulation. The pain of economic transformation was socially accepted as an ”inevitable” part of the process. Social peace could therefore be based on the patience of these societi...
This paper focuses on degrees of political integration by discussing interactionbetween the socie... more This paper focuses on degrees of political integration by discussing interactionbetween the society and (democratic or authoritarian) political power. This isthe relationship, which determines legitimacy or non-legitimacy in a givenregime. The dichotomy of society and political power reflects upon the classic,simplified discourse of we and them in East-Central Europe in the 1970sand 1980s, which is usually applicable only in non-democratic
This chapter investigates the ways in which the post-2010 Fidesz government under Viktor Orbán us... more This chapter investigates the ways in which the post-2010 Fidesz government under Viktor Orbán used antisemitic tropes to configure George Soros—once hailed as a champion of market reform, freedom, and democracy—as an ontological threat to the Hungarian nation that should therefore be expunged from the country, together with “his networks,” including the Open Society Institute and Central European University. To show the government’s communication strategy in action, we combined an analysis of antisemitic discourse on the far right with a media content analysis of Sorosozás in government-backed online news portals from 2015 to 2020. We show that, from 2010, Orbán and his media allies discursively interpellated specific individuals and states as “financiers” and “global powers” as cogs in a global “Soros network.” In doing so, they drew upon well-established fifth-column narratives originally constructed and refined by ideologists from the Kádár era who employed a latent antisemitic ...
Democratization in Central Europe is a success story in historical perspective. Twenty years afte... more Democratization in Central Europe is a success story in historical perspective. Twenty years after the spectacular collapse of communism, most countries, which had belonged to the ”buffer zone” between West Germany and the Soviet Union, now belong to the European Union. The transition was relatively short and was characterized by negotiations, self-limiting behavior, and nonviolence of the participants (with the exception of the Romanian revolution). The ideas of 1989 included negative freedom, free market liberalism, consensual democracy, civil society, and the wish to return to Europe, determined by the social, political, and economic legacies of communism. The short transition was followed by a longer and more difficult consolidation, which was parallel with economic restructuring, privatization, and deregulation. The pain of economic transformation was socially accepted as an ”inevitable” part of the process. Social peace could therefore be based on the patience of these societi...
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