How do illiberals influence policy? What is going on in Austrian politics? What are illiberal propaganda networks and what role does Russia play in them? These are just some of the topics that AUTHLIB researchers have explored in depth over the past year.
Before we say goodbye to 2024, we would like to highlight some of the work we are most proud of.
Did you miss any of them? Have a look before the new year gets underway!
Illiberals’ Impact on Policy-making
When illiberal parties come to power, they try to implement their program. But do they succeed? What difference do they make? What do illiberal social, educational, cultural, immigration and foreign policies look like? Our researchers have studied illiberal governments in office to answer these questions.
Do Illiberal Governments Make a Difference in Education and Culture?
Illiberal political actors around Europe have made education and culture top items on their agenda in order to induce lasting changes in political values, attitudes, and tastes. Still, few of them had several governmental terms to implement them. Péter Radó (Research Fellow, CEU Democracy Institute) and Bálint Mikola (Post-doctoral Research Fellow, CEU Democracy Institute) explored the implications of illiberal rule in Hungary and Poland on cultural and education policies.
Want to go deeper? Read more in Péter Radó and Bálint Mikola’s working paper “Illiberalism in Power: Educational and Cultural Policies”. Or watch them discuss their findings at one of our workshops.
Illiberal Social Policies: A Wake-Up Call for Democratic Forces
Illiberal parties’ grasp on power has relied on economic and social policy as much as on the demise of checks and balances and the distortion of electoral rules. Democratic actors should not overlook the ways in which these parties attract formerly neglected social groups with their welfarist approach, writes Dorottya Szikra (Research Fellow, CEU Democracy Institute).
Are you left with questions? Find more details in Dorottya Szikra’s working paper “Illiberalism and Social Policy: A Four-Country Comparison”. Or watch her discuss her findings at one of our workshops.
Our researchers also explored illiberal impact on immigration and citizenship policies as well as on foreign policy. Watch Dimitry Kochenov (Professor, CEU; Senior Research Fellow, CEU Democracy Institute) and Elena Basheshka (Post-doctoral Research Fellow, CEU Democracy Institute) discuss how illiberal practices feature in immigration and citizenship policy in Hungary and the United Kingdom, and Erin K. Jenne (Professor, Department of International Relations, Central European University) and Mehmet Yavuz (Doctoral Researcher, Doctoral School of Political Science, Public Policy and International Relations, Central European University) share their findings about the populist leaders and their foreign policy rhetoric in Austria and Hungary.
Austria in the Spotlight
On September 29, Austria held possibly its most consequential federal elections in decades—for the country and for European politics. The radical-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), twice a junior partner in coalition governments in the past two decades, led in the polls and won the election. We gathered in early October to discuss what the results mean for the country and shortly after we published an article explaining the roots and curiousities of nationalism in Austria.
Our panel explored what social, economic, and political shifts led to this troubling scenario for Austria and Europe; whether the conservative Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) would agree to be the crucial coalition partner for the FPÖ; if Vienna might set a new direction in EU party politics with a right-wing government consisting of members of the European People’s Party and Patriots for Europe groups, under the leadership of the latter.
How Did Nationalism Involve Rejecting Its Own Nation?
In Austria, nationalism historically meant support for German unification, and thus, paradoxically, the rejection of an “Austrian nation.” The Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) upheld this position after the Second World War. How did this ideology develop? Péter Techet (Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe) explains on the AUTHLIB Blog.
Illiberal Cross-Border Propaganda Networks
The successful transnationalization of illiberal networks has become a prominent feature of European and transatlantic politics. Over the past 15 years, the relationship between Russia and illiberal Western actors has grown deeper and more strategic. AUTHLIB researchers explored how narratives originating from Russia are recontextualized and used for legitimation purposes in the political discourses of Austria and Hungary. They identified the mechanisms, narratives, and processes that drive the propaganda exchanges between the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), the regime of Viktor Orbán, and the Kremlin.
Illiberal Disinformation is No One-Way Street
Autocratizing regimes mutually exploit each other’s propaganda to strengthen their legitimacy at home. The Putin and Orbán regimes work with largely overlapping enemy pictures and in hyper-centralized media environments. This allows their propaganda machines to pick up stories and narratives from each other and use them for their domestic audiences, even in the absence of known institutional relations between them. Dorka Takácsy (The German Marshall Fund of the United States) unpacks the practice through concrete examples.
Russia and central European illiberal actors: Mutual legitimation amid the full-scale invasion of Ukraine
Over the past 15 years, the relationship between illiberal European actors and Russia has become increasingly intertwined. Russia has cultivated these relationships, viewing illiberal actors as a means of influencing Europe. Despite the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which could have been considered a critical juncture, some European parties and politicians did not sever their connections with Russia. This paper addresses this conundrum, focusing on how illiberal Central European actors, exemplified by the FPÖ and Hungary’s Fidesz, continue to reference Russia in their rhetoric, and how Russian state rhetoric, represented by state-controlled media, constructs its discourse on Hungary and Austria in response.
Franziska Wagner (Central European University, Austria; CEU Democracy Institute, Hungary), Liliia Sablina (Central European University, Austria), and Bálint Mikola (CEU Democracy Institute, Hungary) published their article titled “Russia and central European illiberal actors: mutual legitimation amid the full-scale invasion of Ukraine” in East European Politics.
Would you like to learn more? Read many more examples in Dorka Takácsy’s AUTHLIB working paper “Cross-Border Propaganda Networks: Examining the Relationship Between the Russian and Hungarian Regimes” and watch Bálint Mikola, Dorka Takácsy, and Franziska Wagner get together for a panel with Dániel Hegedűs (Regional Director, The German Marshall Fund of the United States) and Anton Shekhovtsov (Visiting Professor, Central European University) to discuss their findings.
