LEI_F_14 The New Affinity to Putin’s Russia in East-Central Europe

Objectives /Research Questions

This project examines the ways in which the significant successes of populism in East-Central European societies are related to the changes in geopolitical contexts that result from the economic, diplomatic, cultural, and political activities of Russia under the presidency of Putin. In the Visegrád states (especially in Hungary, as well as in the Czech Republic, but not yet in Poland), changes in the traditional foreign policy orientations with regard to Russia can be observed. This presents a challenge for the European Union in formulating a common response to the great power politic of Moscow. The empirical study focuses on the consequences relating to the domestic policy in regard to the changing significance of Russian foreign policy for the social cohesion in the eastern neighbours of Germany. Does the current power politics of the populist parties such as the Hungarian Fidesz (suspension of the parliament during the Covid-19 crisis) or the Polish PiS (occupation of the supreme court) follow a general and contemporary political trend that exists in many countries? Or are there possibly regional reasons for the success of a populism specific only to East-Central Europe, which is also reflected in the new affinities to Putin’s Russia? Although current research on populism addresses the developments in East-Central Europe, until now a convincing comparative model that identifies specifics and general trends has not yet been developed. Our project begins with this objective. It is developed with an intraregional orientation that also diachronically compares the individual cases under study. At the same time, it offers an approach to establish a transregional comparison with case studies from other parts of the world, which can help to reduce the gap between analyses in historical studies and historical analyses in political science.

Thematic Relation to Social Cohesion

This project contributes to the planned global mapping of populism with empirical evidence. It scrutinizes the promises of a variety of populisms to re-establish social cohesion with an emphasis on isolation against immigration and to reconstruct a criticism against a globalization that is perceived as neo-liberal (Tóth 2019; Stojarová 2018). It seeks to answer the question how East-Central European populists passionately refer back to their historical predecessors who opposed to “foreign infiltrations” into the respective (fragile and mythical) national societies (that extend back to the early modern era or the Middle Ages) (Bustiková et al. 2009). Similarly, it also addresses the popular elements of respective historical cultures and their populist arguments through which the societies are made compatible. The project aims at examining the ways in which references to historical particularities with a reassessment of the role of Putin’s Russia go together with the efforts to establish a larger alliance of populism both at the European level (Aalberg et al. 2017) and with other world regions, with a comparative and contextualizing approach. It thematizes the question whether such an alliance constitutes an occasional coalition or if it can be put to use as a common programmatic basis in the medium term.

Aalberg, Toril; Esser, Frank; Reinemann, Carsten; Stromback, Jesper; De Vreese, Claes H. (Hrsg.) 2017: Populist Political Communication in Europe, New York.

Bustikova, Lenka; Kitschelt, Herbert 2009: The radical right in post-communist Europe. Comparative perspectives on legacies and party competition, in: Communist and Post-Communist Studies 42, 459-483.

Stojarova, Vera 2018: Populist, Radical and Extremist Political Parties in Visegrad countries vis à vis the migration crisis. In the name of the people and the nation in Central Europe, in: Open Political Science I:1, 32-45.

Tóth, András Máté 2019: Verwundete Identitäten: Freiheit und Populismus in Ostmitteleuropa, Wiesbaden.