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Radical Right-Wing Populism and Borders: Positioning antagonistic discourses in the (de)bounded spaces of power
Edited by Christian Lamour and Oscar Mazzoleni
[Journal of Language and Politics 23:3] 2024
► pp. 416–437

Border-making as illiberal politics

Examples from Orban’s Hungary and Trump’s America

ORCID logo | University of Eastern Finland

Radical Right-wing populism frequently involves ‘divide and rule’ strategies as a means to attain and consolidate political power. In the cases of Viktor Orban’s political regime in Hungary and Donald Trump’s four-year presidency (and its aftermath), we find a pronounced attempt to create narrative hegemony of a sense of nation built upon Christian civilization and foundationalist understandings of national identity. Moreover, both cases reveal processes of social border-making that are reflected in norming and the creation of distinctions based on degrees of national authenticity. Applying an ontological security and critical borders studies approach, this paper will specifically focus on the different ways in which border-making processes, or bordering, are implicated in the exercise of illiberal political power in the Hungarian and US cases. Despite many similarities, the actual mobilization of popular support reflects local conditions and has resulted in rather different political outcomes.

Keywords: social bordering, right-wing populism, ontological (in)security, enclave deliberation, hegemonic discourses
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Critical border studies and the ontological security Nexus
  • 3.Orbán’s Hungary and Trump’s America: Two examples of socio-cultural bordering
    • 3.1Orbánist border-making – A protracted far-right cultural struggle
    • 3.2Trumpian borders – addressing white aggrievement
  • 4.Discussion and conclusion
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 7 May 2024
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.23089.sco
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