CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020
| Author | Kovacs, Benedek |
|---|---|
| Title | Christian Power Europe: Hungary's Strategic Narrative of Europe's Role in a Post-Liberal World |
| Summary | The European liberal order has been upended by the swift rise of radical right-wing leaders, movements, and ideas across the continent. Contrary to claims that these ‘populist’ and ‘nationalist’ movements are idealess and anti-internationalist, recent developments suggest that the radical right articulate their own visions of international cooperation and world order. This paper analyzes how Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s right-wing prime minister, is trying to discursively reshape Europe’s role in the world. It does so through the conceptual framework of strategic narrative, which envisions international politics as a narrative struggle over shared meaning. Orbán’s strategic narrative of European cooperation and world order is reconstructed through a close reading of his annual speeches at the Bálványos Summer University and Student Camp since 2010. It is shown that the prime minister’s narrative conjures up a Christian Power Europe, which must act in the world according to the following core norms: stability, Christian liberty, national democracy, the rule of morality, and respect for sovereignty and cultural traditions. In opposition to Normative Power Europe, this narrative legitimizes Christian-flavored illiberalism as the means to make Europe great again on the world stage. The narrative reflects both mainstream ideas about international relations and the ideas of the transnational ‘New Right,’ a rising intellectual and political project with roots in Western illiberal thought. |
| Supervisor | Kurowska, Xymena |
| Department | International Relations MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2020/kovacs_benedek.pdf |
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