Civil Society, Radicalism, and the Rediscovery of Mythic Nationalism

This paper argues that civil society organizations have played an important part in the right-wing radicalization of contemporary Hungarian politics. Conservative civic groups have been instrumental in reinvigorating the symbolic vocabulary of a mythic nationalism that was widespread at the turn of the 19th and 20th century as well as in the 1930s. The resurrection of nationalist, irredentist, and antisemitic symbols and paraphernalia (e.g., greater Hungary car stickers) have been a major vehicle for increasing the public visibility and political impact of these groups. The paper will show through case studies of specific organizations how this seemingly anachronistic symbolic repertoire has found new resonance in contemporary Hungarian public life.