The Political Economy of Hungarian Authoritarian Populism

Capitalists without the Right Kind of Capital

Tuesday, October, 8, 2024

10:00 - 11:00 AM

online event

a link to join the session will be provided upon registration

This book emphasises the importance of state-business relations and external capital for structuring and strengthening authoritarian populism in Hungary. It argues these capitalist relations are crucial to understanding the economic aspects of this ideology, which has developed in the country since 2010. The book investigates both ‘internal’ and ‘external’ legs of the Hungarian political economy. First how a politically loyal national capital owning class has subsumed domestic business. Second the government’s operationalisation of ‘new’ inward transnational capital inflows – especially from China and Russia – to finance large-scale infrastructure projects, which complement extant investment particularly from Germany. Together, these developments have strengthened the hegemonic nature of Hungarian Authoritarian Populism, helping the government to continued electoral success. This model of governance is attractive to similar ideological expressions in the region and beyond who look for an example to emulate.

Speaker

Samuel Rogers is a political economist with over ten years' experience conducting qualitative research on the dynamics and effects of infrastructure development and investment in Europe and beyond. He analyzes capitalist transformation from a cultural perspective, with a particular focus on (1) the implications of Chinese-sourced capital for (inter)national development and (2) illiberal capitalist development. Presently he is working on the ERC-funded project 'REDEFINE', based at The Open University. This research examines what China’s rise means for how we understand global development and specifically, Europe’s place in it. He is also Visiting Scholar at the Osteuropa-Institut, FU Berlin.

His book The Political Economy of Hungarian Authoritarian Populism: Capitalists without the Right Kind of Capital (Routledge 2024) highlights the importance of state-business relations and external capital for structuring and strengthening populism in Hungary. He has also published several articles in leading peer-reviewed human geography and political science journals including Contemporary Politics, East European Politics, New Political Economy, Political Geography, and Post-Communist Economies among others.

Discussant

Bálint Madlovics is a political scientist and economist. He is a Research Fellow at the CEU Democracy Institute in Budapest. He holds an MA in Political Science (2018) from Central European University and BAs in sociology and applied economics. He was a research fellow at the Financial Research Institute in Budapest (2018–2019) and visiting professor at Corvinus University of Budapest (2022) and Eötvös Loránd University (2021-2024). He has published peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and books on post-communist regimes since 2015. His most recent books, co-authored by Bálint Magyar, include The Anatomy of Post-Communist Regimes (CEU Press, 2020), A Concise Field Guide to Post-Communist Regimes (CEU Press, 2022), and a two-volume collection of studies on Ukraine’s Patronal Democracy and Russia’s Imperial Endeavor (CEU Press, 2023), altogether published in 8 languages.

Moderator

Marlene Laruelle is a Research Professor of International Affairs and Political Science at the George Washington University, and Director of the Illiberalism Studies Program.