CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2022
| Author | Balša Lubarda |
|---|---|
| Title | Far-Right Ecologism: Environmental Politics and the Far Right in Hungary and Poland |
| Summary | The widespread mainstreaming of the far right around the world has prompted greater engagement of these actors with a range of topics and policy domains, including the environment. However, this engagement is not only conditioned by the vote-winning strategies. Whereas increasing the political presence entails expanding the influence over as many policy domains as possible, far-right’s environmental agenda is also conditioned by the substantive ideological link between far right and ecologism. Building on the nationalist bent of early green thought and the perceived nexus of pristine nature and cultural purity, Far-Right Ecologism (FRE) has ideologically adopted the “green” elements of other ideologies, such as conservatism and fascism, nationalism, and populism. By focusing on Hungary and Poland as representatives of the post-socialist, Eastern European realms, this thesis explores ideological morphology of far-right ecologism, its key proponents among the far-right parties, as well as their policy preferences and proposals. Not only are Hungary and Poland interesting as case studies because of having right-wing populists in power and the far right in opposition, but also because of the historical intersection of environmental concern with nationalism in the region. This thesis specifically focused on the far-right actors in the two countries: political parties in opposition and far-right movements. The thesis builds on a range of data-collection methods: document analysis of electoral manifestos, ideological declarations and party news, social media and public speeches, policy proposals; 51 qualitative interviews (24 from Hungary, 27 from Poland) and ethnographic research with the far right. For the data analysis, this thesis employed the qualitative text analysis paired with the discourse-historical approach of critical discourse analysis. The findings point to a distinctive ideological morphology of Far-Right Ecologism, building on the broader right-wing ideological pool, with its core components: manicheanism, naturalism, organicism, and peripheral elements: nostalgia, autarky, spirituality, and authority. While the policy contribution of FRE to environmental politics in Hungary and Poland is somewhat limited, the increasing acceptance of anthropogenic climate change (particularly in the Hungarian case) paired with calls for energy autarky and encroachments in biodiversity protection and animal welfare call for a more serious engagement with this ideological conglomerate. |
| Supervisor | Alexios Antypas |
| Department | Environment Sciences and Policy PhD |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2022/lubarda_balsa.pdf |
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