Illiberal Conservatism, Civilizationalist Ethnocentrism, and Paternalist Populism in Orbán's Hungary

Abstract

The paper argues for an ideology-centered interpretation of the Orbán regime. I propose that those regimes that promote a particular worldview through their signatory policies and discourse, advantage a well-defined set of values through the allocation of resources, and enact policies on key ideological objectives with long-lasting impact should be considered ideological. In addition to demonstrating that Hungary after 2010 satisfies these criteria, I identify the principal ideological modules of the regime: illiberal conservatism, civilizationist ethnocentrism, and paternalist populism.

Keywords: Illiberalism, Hungary, autocratization, political ideologies, populism