From Liberalism to Illiberalism: Orban's Political Transformation and Right Populist Strategies in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

This study examines how the policies pursued by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orb & aacute;n and his party Fidesz during the COVID-19 pandemic overlapped with a right-wing populist ideology and how the pandemic was used as an opportunity for illiberal democracy building, based on its ideological transformations since the 1990s. The study examines Fidesz from its foundation in 1988 to its ideological transformation in the post-2010 period and discusses the intersections of Orb & aacute;n's right-wing populist strategies with his governance during the pan- demic. The main argument of the study is that Fidesz and Orb & aacute;n saw COVID-19 as a historic opportunity to deepen their right-wing populist policies. In this context, the study focuses on the policy set put forward by Orb & aacute;n, who showed increasing his political and administrative power as a imperative direction for the survival of the country during the COVID-19 pande- mic, to reinforce his right-wing populist ideology during the pandemic. The aim of the study is to evaluate the COVID-19 crisis within the framework of the Orb & aacute;n government's right-wing populist orientations and illiberal understanding of democracy and to show how this process strengthened the repressive tendencies of the Hungarian Government.