Is Viktor Orban’s a Populist?
Populism is a state in most of the developed nations which are growing to be a crisis against development. For instance, through the act of populism, freedom is limited with a cover of providing democracy to the less democratic nations. The explanation and definition of populism have a lot of lame ideologies that aim at maintaining political power to the current leaders with a limitation towards democracy and freedom indirectly. For instance, reading Viktor Orban’s speech without better interpretation, most people may think that he is not populist, which in the real sense he is through his ideologies. More notably, when comparing the state of democracy to decades ago, it is clear that nothing has changed, but the so-called freedom and liberal power that is indirectly limiting the democratic control and freedom of most of the people in the world. In essence, this essay has been cemented with the facts underlying Viktor Orban’s populism and authoritarian dictatorship, limiting freedom and liberty.
Viktor Orban has opposed freedom of speech and expression. For instance, according to the statement given, it is about himself and power all through and arguing about ideologies that do not add up without public participation. More notably, he argued that a state does not have to be liberal to democratic. He has used diplomacy in his arguments in the speech. He covers the limitation of freedom of expression with his ideologies concerning illiberal and the essence of not being liberal (Zakaria 1997). Besides, he has argued that as a state, they have to focus on breaking liberty principles and processes attached to liberty for the nation to succeed and grow better. The argument directly exposes how Viktor Orban has ignored the value of the participation of the members in the democratic and liberal process of an economy. Viktor has also referred to the liberal government as failure in the process of institutionalizing democracy in the state. Thus, this is one way of luring the objectives of the state’s people and appealing to their decision that will only favor him in his political power. Therefore, Viktor Orban is a populist through the various ways that he has opposed freedom indirectly through his ideologies and political power greed for the economy.
The ideologies of Viktor Orban are limited and more based on illiberal states as opposed to a liberal state, which is the best free option for many countries in the 21st century. The fact that his ideologies are not factoring liberal state-building as one of the critical principles then his regime has significant ambitions in limiting the power of the citizens in the state. The combination of liberty and freedom forms democracy. A country with no freedom cannot be anything close to a democratic nation. Thus, this is what Viktor Orban is trying to institutionalize in the country through the ideologies stated in the speech (Tuşnad, 2014). More notably, trying to use power to explain to citizens how building an illiberal state will be an achievement. He has failed to include the fact that being a democratic country is a process, and the fact that it was not achieved from the previous government does not mean that it failed. His ideologies are too subjective towards having an illiberal nation, which is to his benefit because he will apply that in institutionalizing authoritative powers in the state. Viktor Orban is a populism based on his actions and ideologies through the arguments presented in the speech concerning his doctrines.
Viktor Orban’s speech has addressed other failing parties in some states to justify his adverse ruling and power. For instance, he has used the impeachment threat in the USA by the senate to justify his harmful acts by arguing that he has limited time in office to exercise his duties to the nation’s people. He has centered his speech when concluding as a way justifying the brutal deaths that have been happening in the country because of the control he has over the government. The act of defending what has happened and not accepting the wrongs and failures implies that he is more of a populist than a liberal leader. His speech has been centered on lame arguments and justifications that have proved that his primary aim is to have power and achieve his self-centered objectives. Donald Trump, the USA president, has been labeled as a populist as him (Tuşnad, 2014). Thus, he can’t argue that he is better than them in terms of ruling. It, therefore, through the illiberal structures that he is planning to build that will protect his evil deeds as the state won’t be able to judge his evil acts to the nation. As such, Viktor Orban is using the current opportunity to establish law and country that will protect his power and adverse ruling to the economy.
The primary aim of Viktor Orban is to have political power in his hand. Thus, this is a direct way to say that he wants to be authoritarian to the state. The political leader wants to limit the power of the people and, on the contrary, come up with ways of having the ability to do what they want. He argues that the Hungarian state is independent of the Western power and civilization, where he has failed to nail the ways that that will be achieved. For instance, western nations like the USA engage in debates to solve the issues of democracy in countries that have authoritative problems. As such, by the Hungarian state withdrawing from such support, it will mean that the state will be at risk of undergoing colonization in the name of being independent. Viktor Orban is trying to use all the opportunities to have the political power on his hands for his benefits (Tuşnad 2014). Viktor Orban has centered all the ideologies on his interests, greed, and power, which does not focus on the rights and freedom of the public. Therefore, Viktor Orban has used the advantages of his ideologies in luring the citizens of the Hungarian nation to benefit and protect himself in the future.
Viktor Orban has pretended to be close with the people of the Hungarian nation and trying to help them understand about the illiberal state issue. The aspect of being close to the people of Hungarian has an advantage over his ideologies. For instance, he is using the power in the people of Hungarian to come up with his stability and authoritarian forces in the state. Alternatively, by being close to the people of the nation, he will be able to easily convince them to become what he wants for his benefit (Galston 2018). He is also trying to be Vladimir Putin of Russia, who has been a political leader for long in Russia. Vladimir Putin is a leader who Viktor Orban is trying to copy with all his deeds in the economy of the Hungarian people pretending that the future is not dependent on democracy and liberty. Besides, his statements are ironic because they cannot be achieved by what he describes as illiberal state-building. There are a lot of considerations that determine the democracy in a country. More notably, how liberal the state is with a focus on freedom and other significant issues in the economy. Thus, through his leadership regime, the economy of the Hungarian nation has lost a lot, and now he has false hopes for the country.
In his speech, Viktor Orban has argued that people should understand the meaning of an illiberal nation and its role in the economic success of the Hungarian state. In his speech, he is trying to make the people of Hungarian understand the benefits of the illiberal nation. Thus, he has blamed the people for not realizing that a state can perform better without necessarily considering the liberal aspects as the major requirements for the growth and performance of the company. Viktor Orban has focused on past issues, which are not the key issues towards the performance of the Hungarian nation (Tuşnad 2014). Also, Viktor Orban has not focused on the significant global economic growth issues like globalization and competition because he knows they will factor in liberty and democracy. Through his speech, he has focused on old topics like the European Union and how its game failed as significant issues that matter. Populist leaders do not focus on the current issues that our democracy and freedom-oriented but rather focus on the old problems that will drag the economy. Thus, Viktor Orban is a populist because he focuses on the first measures that are meant to give him the power to rule over the Hungarian nation.
On the contrary, some of his ideologies make sense. For instance, the aspect of being independent of western civilization, which is part of colonization, is authentic. The western states have taken advantage of many growing nations in the name staying close and helping them get their freedom, which is not their primary aim. States the USA has helped many states, but in return, they have made them dependent on them for their economic processes. Thus, through the aspect of Viktor Orban opposing there help and democracy associated with that will help the economy of Hungarian to grow as an independent nation (Galston 2018). For instance, he supports his verdict by saying that America is composed of a few super-rich people holding the economy and middle-class people are working for in the marketplace. There is a higher likelihood his arguments are to help the Hungarian state to be independent and out of the hands of colonial civilization. Viktor Orban’s speech serves as a way of improving the Hungarian nation to understand that they are the only people who have the power to help themselves from the challenges that they face. Therefore, though, these arguments in the speech Viktor Orban has played a role that contradicts the populist role.
Alternatively, the nations that are termed democratic are not when thinking about them widely. For instance, states like the United States have been labeled as those that have political democracy in the world (Tuşnad 2014). However, when thinking about the rules, they are not democratic at any perspective because they are misusing the freedom of other developing nations. More notably, after the action of helping, they continue ruling and dictating the countries indirectly. The aspect of helping the people of Hungarian understand the impact covered democracy on their nations brings out the positive part of Viktor Orban’s speech.
The ideology of Viktor Orban and Zakaria has concurred on the issue of illiberal democracies that the public can’t imagine. For instance, Zakaria and Viktor Orban have stated the USA as an economy that operates on the aspects of limiting people’s freedom. More notably, now that the USA works on two major parties that every individual is limited. This, therefore, implies that there is no freedom of coming up with other parties for better choices. As such, every citizen is to the existing laws that they are obligated to. Besides, Viktor Orban has concurred with Zakaria’s ideology of the limiting factor towards freedom (Zakaria 1997) For instance; he argues that the USA is a state that is ruled by the few rich people who the imperfect works for because of the limited freedom that they obligated to in the country. In the future, constitutional liberalism won’t have much influence in most of the states because of the illiberal movement that has been running in democratic states in the country. Therefore, illiberal democracy aspects have gained more legitimacy in the contemporary world.
In a nutshell, the fact that Viktor Orban is a populist cannot be ignored. More notably, through his speech, he wants to have power over his hands and has no room for any citizen in the Hungarian state. However, some of the arguments presented have contradicted the populist character. Therefore, Viktor Orban’s speech has identified him as a populist.
Bibliography
Galston, William A. Anti-Pluralism: The Populist Challenge To Liberal Democracy. Yale University Press, 2018.
Tuşnad, Băile. Kormany.Hu, Last modified 2014. https://www.kormany.hu/en/the-prime-minister/the-prime-minister-s-speeches/prime-minister-viktor-orban-s-speech-at-the-25th-balvanyos-summer-free-university-and-student-camp.
Zakaria, Fareed. “The Rise of Illiberal Democracy”. Foreign Affairs 76, no. 6 (1997): 22. doi: 10.2307/20048274.