Entropy is a term physicists use to describe decay, and it’s starting to look as if entropy could be catching up with Viktor Orbán’s Hungary. I write about the possibility that Orbánism is heading toward regime collapse in this piece… Read More ›
Research
Viktor Orbán’s Use of Soft Power to Create a Sonderweg
The following is a short article I wrote on Viktor Orbán’s foreign policy strategy. The first paragraph of the article is included below; the rest of the article can be read via the link. Viktor Orbán has dedicated enormous financial… Read More ›
Why Are Some Catholic Intellectuals Enamored with Austrofascism?
I was recently invited to speak on podcast called Why Postliberalism Failed, hosted by James Patterson and Thomas Howes. The topic was Austrofascism and its influence on a small segment of American Catholic intellectuals. The conversation was wide ranging, although… Read More ›
Facing a Serious Challenger, Orbán Moves Closer to Naked Authoritarianism
Since exploding onto the political scene last February, Péter Magyar had completely upended Hungarian politics and has Orbán and his cronies in a state of panic. My latest piece for The Bulwark. “IF IT KEEPS ON RAINING, [the] levee’s going… Read More ›
The Influence of Austrofascism on JD Vance
One troubling feature of our current politics is the extent to which certain religious intellectuals have become enamored of early 20th century “clerical fascism.” Clerical fascism shouldn’t be confused with Nazism. It wasn’t committed to Hitler’s Aryan and social Darwinist… Read More ›
Is This the Man Who Could Topple Viktor Orbán?
“FORTUNE IS A LIBERAL MISTRESS,” Napoleon is reported to have said before his defeat at Borodino. “I have often said so, and now begin to experience it.” Words of wisdom, perhaps, for Viktor Orbán, who some have said suffers from bouts of Bonapartism. Since winning… Read More ›
In Hungary, Scandal and Crisis Suddenly Energize the Opposition
ALTHOUGH ONE MIGHT NOT KNOW IT given Hungary’s current reputation, the country has noble liberal traditions. In 1848 Hungary gave birth to one of the most successful democratic revolutions in Europe, sadly suppressed after a year by Austrian and Russian… Read More ›
Lashing Out, Rod Dreher (Again) Reveals His Ignorance of Hungary
People interested in Christianity, American politics, and the culture wars may have run across the name of Rod Dreher. He’s a rather prolific writer and journalist who maintains a regular blog with the magazine The American Conservative. Some years ago… Read More ›
What Viktor Orbán Revealed This Weekend
Viktor Orbán has a habit of giving controversial speeches in Romania. His notorious 2014 illiberalism speech was delivered there. Just a few weeks ago, he delivered another whopper, which included unmistakably racist language. In an essay I wrote for The… Read More ›
What the ‘National Conservatives’ Get Wrong About Liberalism
National conservatism is a new “movement” of public intellectuals who purport to be conservative. But if conservative is related to conserving, I don’t think they are. They’re actually disgruntled revolutionaries intent on tearing things down. As their name suggests, national… Read More ›
H. David Baer 