CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020
| Author | Borsi, Zsofia Anna |
|---|---|
| Title | Mobilising Identities In Response To 'Illiberal Populism': Evidence From The Hungarian Municipal Elections |
| Summary | Through what kind of identities and strategies can a liberal-democratic opposition respond to the electoral challenges of illiberal populism? Can political opportunities be created from below in a hybrid regime? This thesis investigates these questions by conducting an in-depth exploratory, comparative case study research regarding the Hungarian municipal elections of 2019. Oppositional campaigns of the I. and VIII. districts are explored via semi-structured interviews with campaign members, complemented by the contextual analysis of each district. Campaigns are comparatively analysed regarding their structures, brands, messages and strategies used. The results suggest that political opportunity creation in an ‘unlevel electoral playing field’ (Levitsky and Way, 2001) is possible, through the use of innovative strategies, such as oppositional coordination and intensive personal campaigning, and through the politicisation of both inward- and outward-looking, affective messages. Moreover, this project asserts that given hybrid regimes’ centralised nature, it is on the municipal level of governance that the development of oppositional identities is the least hindered. Hence this research provides a useful preliminary framework for progressive bottom-up movements in hybrid electoral settings. |
| Supervisor | Bozóki, András |
| Department | Political Science MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2020/borsi_zsofia-anna.pdf |
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