Suchergebnisse

"Dániel Mikecz addresses in this study the tensions between oppositional civil society and party-political actors. As successive elections demonstrate the increasing confidence of the illiberal regime of Viktor Orbán, left and liberal parties of the opposition have faced a prolonged crisis in credibility. At the same time, the civil society has not been immobile, and bottom-up initiatives, social and political movements, and non-governmental organizations have gained momentum in the public sphere. The ruling power is also active in the extra-parliamentary political arena. Through national consultations, Peace Marches, and other means, Orbán's governing Fidesz party has mobilized voters outside of election campaigns and has implemented a so-called movement governance. The study offers a vivid examination of this top-down or astroturf mobilization of the regime. Mikecz identifies the different patterns of activism and creates a coherent typology. He describes in detail each kind of activism based on opinion surveys, protest surveys and content analysis. The categorization and comprehensive exploration of civil movements provide a deep understanding of the mechanisms of illiberal postcommunist regimes"--

"Daniel Mikecz addresses in this study the tensions between oppositional civil society and party-political actors. As successive elections demonstrate the increasing confidence of the illiberal regime of Viktor Orban, left and liberal parties of the opposition have faced a prolonged crisis in credibility. At the same time, the civil society has not been immobile, and bottom-up initiatives, social and political movements, and non-governmental organizations have gained momentum in the public sphere. The ruling power is also active in the extra-parliamentary political arena. Through national consultations, Peace Marches, and other means, Orban's governing Fidesz party has mobilized voters outside of election campaigns and has implemented a so-called movement governance. The study offers a vivid examination of this top-down or astroturf mobilization of the regime. Mikecz identifies the different patterns of activism and creates a coherent typology. He describes in detail each kind of activism based on opinion surveys, protest surveys and content analysis. The categorization and comprehensive exploration of civil movements provide a deep understanding of the mechanisms of illiberal postcommunist regimes"--

Dániel Mikecz addresses in this study the tensions between oppositional civil society and party-political actors. As successive elections demonstrate the increasing confidence of the illiberal regime of Viktor Orbán, left and liberal parties of the opposition have faced a prolonged crisis in credibility. At the same time, the civil society has not been immobile, and bottom-up initiatives, social and political movements, and non-governmental organizations have gained momentum in the public sphere. The ruling power is also active in the extra-parliamentary political arena. Through national consultations, Peace Marches, and other means, Orbán's governing Fidesz party has mobilized voters outside of election campaigns and has implemented a so-called movement governance. The study offers a vivid examination of this top-down or astroturf mobilization of the regime. Mikecz identifies the different patterns of activism and creates a coherent typology. He describes in detail each kind of activism based on opinion surveys, protest surveys and content analysis. The categorization and comprehensive exploration of civil movements provide a deep understanding of the mechanisms of illiberal postcommunist regimes

The paper investigates the emotional, grief-based resilience-building of a social movement, the Living Memorial in Hungary. The movement was initiated in 2014 as the Hungarian government announced the installation of a memorial of the German occupation of 1944, which denied the responsibility of the Hungarian state in the Holocaust. The Living Memorial aimed to contradict the government's memorial by offering an inclusive remembrance through telling personal, family stories. A grounded analysis revealed three different actions were realised by the Living Memorial, which all enhanced the resilience of the group on different levels. The discussion of personal and family stories and sharing grief reinforced the collective identity of the group. The personal remembrance also helped to deconstruct the government's memorial. The political discussions and presentations raised the political consciousness of the participants and strengthened their self-image as competent political actors. It is also revealed that resilience in the case of the Living Memorial was built by a continuous process of reframing and community-building and also by the simultaneous recall and rationalisation of grief and relating emotions.

ZusammenfassungSeit den Parlamentswahlen von 2014 ist ein offener Konflikt zwischen der ungarischen Regierung und kritischen zivilgesellschaftlichen Organisationen entbrannt. Nach Auffassung des Fidesz-Regimes sind die meisten Watchdog-NGOs politisch, parteiisch und vertreten ausländische Interessen. Als Beleg hierfür wird die Unterstützung durch internationale Geberorganisationen herangeführt. Die Regierung verabschiedete im April 2017 ein Gesetz, das zivilgesellschaftliche Organisationen, die u. a. aus ausländischen Quellen finanziert werden, dazu verpflichtet, sich als "vom Ausland finanzierte Organisation" registrieren zu lassen. In einer darauffolgenden Kampagne bezeichnete die ungarische Regierung unabhängige NGOs u. a. als "Soros-Organisationen". Der Aufsatz untersucht, ob diese diskursive Strategie der Abwertung erfolgreich war, d. h. ob die Regierung die diskursiven Gelegenheitsstrukturen der Watchdog-Organisationen begrenzen konnte. Laut einer Meinungsumfrage vom November 2017 genießt die Zivilgesellschaft ein hohes Ansehen in der ungarischen Gesellschaft. Allerdings ist die politische Funktion zivilgesellschaftlicher Organisationen in Ungarn weniger gesellschaftlich anerkannt als die karitative Funktion, was geringere Handlungsspielräume für politisch aktive zivilgesellschaftliche Organisationen bedingt. Darüber hinaus stimmten Befragte einer strengeren Kontrolle zivilgesellschaftlicher Organisationen zu – insbesondere derjenigen, die ausländische Gelder erhalten. Im ersteren Fall hatte ein höheres Einkommen eine statistische Bedeutung, während letztere Haltung stark mit der Unterstützung der Fidesz-Regierung korrelierte.

The paper investigates the moral element of the claims-making process in the case of solidarity movements. The question is how claims are made and articulated if the claimants do not seek direct benefits but refer to moral principles. The paper answers the research question by identifying the role of morality on three levels of two Hungarian solidarity movements' praxis: goals, forms and means of mobilization; hence, the issues, the forms and frames of solidarity movements' claims making. According to the data, organizations helping refugees stand closer to voluntary organizations of political altruism than to the politically motivated solidarity movements. The data also demonstrate that established solidarity movements use a medley of policy reasoning and morally justified action. New, emerging solidarity movements can rely on morality claims when they wish to supplement their lack of expertise or resources.

Ist Ungarn eine Autokratie? Das ist die Leitfrage dieses Lehrbuchs, welches aus einer Innensicht die Bausteine des Systems aufzeigt und nüchtern analysiert. Das historische Erbe, etwa die Habsburgermonarchie, der sog. Gulaschkommunismus, der Systemwechsel und die Demokratisierung sind bedeutsam für die aktuellen Entwicklungen, die in der deutschsprachigen Öffentlichkeit sehr kontrovers beurteilt, mehr noch kritisiert werden. Fest steht: Das Staatskonzept von Viktor Orbán hat seit 2010 für einen mehr oder minder fundamentalen Systemumbau gesorgt. Das Buch behandelt in zehn Kapiteln, wie das Konzept der Nationalen Zusammenarbeit (NER) die politischen Institutionen, die Gesetzgebung sowie die Außenpolitik beeinflusst und wie es sich auf die Interessenartikulation der Minderheiten und der ungarischen Zivilgesellschaft auswirkt. Am Ende stehen Szenarien für die weitere Entwicklung des Landes.

The paper's aim is to understand how the populist right in Hungary answered the challenge of the climate movement, which became a significant issue in the year 2019. The paper answers the research question whether the Hungarian populist right's narrative reactions differed from non-incumbent populist parties and movements, and to what extent the populist discourse defined these reactions. The paper analyses the content of the conservative, nationally circulated daily newspaper Magyar Nemzet and the government's press releases between the 2018 general election and November 2020, the onset of the second wave of the Covid-19 in Hungary. The analyses of the identified frames (N = 171) demonstrate that the climate movement was interpreted as the new left, and political interests were suspected of supporting the movement in the background. The accusation of serving hidden political and economic interests and being a new form of the political left served the effort to discredit the climate movement. The results also indicate that the narrative reaction of the Hungarian populist right followed the general communication and policy agenda of the Hungarian government, rather than the inherent discursive patterns of populism. It could be rightly assumed that this interrelation is the consequence of the incumbency and strong centralization of the populist right in Hungary.