CEU eTD Collection (2015); Fabók, Bálint: Turning Their Backs on the West - A Comparison of Populist Regimes: Foreign Policies: The Cases of Hungary and Turkey

CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2015
Author Fabók, Bálint
Title Turning Their Backs on the West - A Comparison of Populist Regimes: Foreign Policies: The Cases of Hungary and Turkey
Summary Populist leaders tend to apply sharp shifts in their foreign policies, and they often have ambitious foreign policy concepts. Under the rule of Erdogan and Orban, Turkey and Hungary are widely described as the mavericks of Europe, and in addition to their populist attitudes and authoritarian turns, they are sharp critics of the Western civilization and Western institutions. These concepts appear in their foreign policy directives as the two leaders intend to lower the dependency of their country to the West while pursue to close ties with alternative power blocks by increasing economic cooperation. In this research my aim is to conduct a comparative analysis of the sharp shifts in the foreign policies of Hungary and Turkey under their populist leaders. It will be argued that opportunism is a significant driving force in shaping foreign policy by populist movements; however, the overestimation of the potential of their country, unreal visions, and unpreparedness for external effects can cause hardly manageable difficulties for populist leaders.
Supervisor Akcali, Emel
Department International Relations MA
Full texthttps://www.etd.ceu.edu/2015/fabok_balint.pdf

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