Skip to Main Content
200
Views
0
CrossRef citations to date
Altmetric

Articles

Rebuilding the Hungarian right through conquering civil society: the Civic Circles Movement

Received 18 Sep 2019
Accepted 16 Jan 2020
Published online: 27 Jan 2020
 
Translator disclaimer

The article analyses the Civic Circles Movement that paved the way for Viktor Orbán's Fidesz party from the opposition to enduring political rule. It is demonstrated that through extending and connecting the right's grassroots networks and hierarchical organisations, reinventing its holidays and heroes, and mobilising followers for contention, the movement has transformed civil society. The article contributes to the recent literature on illiberal parties and leaders by showing that the civic activism of educated middle-class supporters may be as important for their rise and resilience in power as the votes of less educated groups within their constituency.

Additional information

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributor

Béla Greskovits is a University Professor at the Department of International Relations, and Department of Political Science, at Central European University, Budapest, Hungary. His research interests are the political economy of East-Central European capitalism, social movements, and democratisation. His articles appeared in Studies in Comparative and International Development, Labor History, Orbis, West European Politics, Competition and Change, Journal of Democracy, European Journal of Sociology, Global Policy, and Transfer: European Review of Labor and Research. His book Capitalist Diversity on Europe's Periphery, written together with Dorothee Bohle, was awarded the 2013 Stein Rokkan Prize for Comparative Social Science Research. He was winner of the 2014 Bibó István Prize of the Hungarian Political Science Association, and the 2018 laureate of the Danubius Award of the Institute for the Danube Region and the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research.

Login options

Purchase * Save for later
Online

Article Purchase 24 hours to view or download: EUR 39.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase 30 days to view or download: EUR 215.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable