Hungary's " anti-capitalist " far-right: Jobbik and the Hungarian Guard (original) (raw)
This article discusses the political success of the far-right Movement for a Better Hungary (Jobbik). Jobbik is usually depicted as owing its success to anti-Roma and anti-establishment sentiment, mobilized with the help of a paramilitary organization, the Hungarian Guard. With the examples of the party programs, the speeches of Jobbik leaders during marches of the Hungarian Guard, and the press releases of the party between 2008 and 2010, this article shows how Jobbik not only attempts to mobilize anti-Roma sentiment, but also tries to present itself as a party taking considerable interest in the economic issues of poverty and inequality triggered by capitalism. It also suggests that the party's success might in fact also be due to this focus on the economy, as well as due to increasing efforts on behalf of the party leadership to differentiate their positions from those of the main center-right party, Fidesz. This could explain how even though authorities banned the Hungarian Guard in July 2009, Jobbik nevertheless doubled its number of voters in the parliamentary elections of April 2010 (and achieved a further increase in absolute vote numbers in 2014) as compared to its electoral outcome in the European Parliament elections of June 2009.
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Jobbik going mainstream. Strategy shift of the far-right in Hungary
This study focuses on Jobbik’s mainstreaming campaign, which was launched in autumn 2013 and has been characteristic in the party’s communication since then. First, the underlying motivations of Jobbik’s people’s party strategy are analysed. Besides the opportunities that the new strategy offers to Jobbik, the limitations are also discussed. We also investigate the main characteristics of Jobbik’s de-demonization strategy, both in terms of content and communication. Second, by comparing data on Jobbik’s voting base in 2010 and 2015, we assess to what extent the strategy shift has contributed to address the strategic challenges of Jobbik. Third, the interaction between Jobbik and the traditional Hungarian mainstream parties will be analysed. Fourth, an overview of the institutionalised far-right, Jobbik’s subculture and intellectual hinterland is included in the study. Jobbik has carefully focused on building an extensive set of background institutions in the last few years with the aim to support the work of the national party. The last chapter will present the most important elements of the “Jobbik empire”.
Hungarian Cultural Studies, 2020
Charting the dramatic rise of the far right in Hungary since the late 1990s, this comprehensive study by Péter Krekó and Attila Juhász draws on an extensive body of original research to explain both the popular appeal and electoral successes of two key Hungarian parties: the radical right Jobbik (Jobbik Magyarországért Mozgalom [‘Movement for a Better Hungary’]), and the populist right Fidesz (Fiatal Demokraták Szövetség [‘Alliance of Young Democrats’]). As the authors note at the very beginning of the book, the consolidation of illiberal politics in Hungary has over the last decade garnered a great deal of attention from Hungarian and foreign scholars, as well as from international media, and for good reason. The “meteoric rise” of Jobbik since 2006, coupled with the growing extremism of Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party, demand explanation, especially in light of the fact that together the two parties captured, in both the 2010 and the 2014 general elections, roughly seventy percent o...
Right-wing Extremism in Hungary
2012
Main actor of right-wing extremism in Hungary is the Jobbik party, which won about 15 per cent of the votes in the European elections of 2009 as well as in the general elections of 2010. Being the third party in Hungarian Parliament, it broadly succeeded in its agenda setting. Ruling Fidesz party of Prime Minister Orban took over several bullet points of the Jobbik extremist party programme and adopted them as part of the government’s policy.
This article focuses on the party of Jobbik ('The Better') and places its rhetoric and activism within the context of the Hungarian political system and its internal pathologies. A deeper and broader insight of nationalism's socio-psychological appeal in Hungarian politics and society will help the reader understand better why and how the economic crisis has been a watershed for Jobbik's popularity among certain segments of the Hungarian electorate. This piece of work has primarily relied on a qualitative and discourse analysis of Jobbik's speeches, official statements and the party's political programme. Sources such as opinion polls and public surveys have also been of complementary importance. The research embeds this information in scholarly and theoretical literature in the thematic areas of Political Psychology and Nationalism. What this article demonstrates is that Jobbik has been particularly efficient in coordinating its socio-psychological campaign and mobilizing a series of social grievances for its political benefit. Meanwhile, the party has been equally successful in legitimizing its campaign by embedding it within the traditional framework of the political culture of nationalism in Hungary.
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