CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2025
| Author | Steigler, Tamara |
|---|---|
| Title | Mnemonic Frontlines: Hungary's Foreign Policy Challenge to the European Union's Normative Order through Ontological Security |
| Summary | This thesis suggests that Hungary’s contemporary deviation from the European Union transcends the legal and mirrors a profound effort to construct collective memory and identity. By deploying the concept of ontological security augmented with mnemonic security, it crystallizes how the Orbán government composes and directs historical narratives as instruments of foreign policy. Focusing on three mnemonic motifs – Trianon as a foundational trauma, Christianity as civilizational pillar and sovereignty as existential safeguard – the study traces a discursive trajectory from 2010 to 2023. Utilizing critical discourse analysis of prime-ministerial speeches and legislation the research identifies three analytical phases. From 2010 – 2024, domestic memory consolidation established a systematic national self-narrative. Between 2014 – 2016, the migration crisis occasioned a securitization of history, framing “Brussels” as an ideological adversary. From 2017 – 2023, Hungary asserted an alternative “Old Europe”, coalescing with like-minded EU parliamentary factions to advocate confederalism embedded in Christianity and sovereignty. The findings reveal that memory politics in Hungary functions as both a defensive bulwark – securing the state’s sense of self against positioning as an outsider to hegemonic European values – and an offensive apparatus – legitimizing an illiberal vision of Europe. The dual deployment of memory signals the insufficiency of conventional integration theories, bringing to the fore the performative role of historical narratives in supranational conflict. By elucidating the interplay between contestation and ontological security, the thesis contributes a novel interpretive framework to European studies and international relations. It raises urgent questions about the security of the European project predicated on shared remembrance when member states’ mnemonic regimes diverge. |
| Supervisor | Fetzer, Thomas |
| Department | International Relations MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2025/steigler_tamara.pdf |
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