Caesarean politics in Hungary and Poland

Abstract

We propose the new concept of Caesarean politics to explain democratic deconsolidation in Hungary and Poland. We argue the move towards illiberal democracy in both countries has been made possible by a shift towards Caesarean politics, in which radical changes are framed as "politics as usual", while in fact these challenge the essence of liberal democracy. Focusing on the three pillars of Caesarean politics: (1) patronal politics, (2) state capture, and (3) identity politics, we show how both countries become cases of Caesarean politics, where, using discourses of "friends" and "enemies", the leader coordinates vast patronal networks that capture the state.

Democratic backsliding in the European Union: the role of the Hungarian-Polish coalition

“…Immediately after the 2015 elections, controversy erupted over the Constitutional Tribunal because the new PiS-government refused three judges nominated by the former PO-government before they left Office. PiS named its candidates, which led to a blockade of the CT and a swift reaction by the EU against infringement on the rule of law (Sadurski 2019). Also after that, the PiS-dominated Sejmwith help from President Dudarepeatedly changed legislation aimed at compromising the independence of the CT.…”

“…First, similar to Hungary, the retirement age of the judges was lowered, leading to a replacement of forty percent of the judges. In both countries, the Chief Justices of the Supreme Courts, András Baka in Hungary and Małgorzata Gelsdorf in Poland, have faced attacks (Sadurski 2019). Second, the judiciary was brought under partisan control.…”

Towards a Political Theory of Democratic Backsliding? Generalising the East Central European Experience

“…On the contrary, I would argue that we can observe less democratic control of the leaders and more audience democracy (Mishra 2017). The spectators can be easily manipulated into politics of insecurity and exclusionary identity politics, which in fact occurs during democratic backsliding (Sata and Karolewski 2019). Citizens as spectators watch politicians in their spectacles organised specifically for the people.…”

“…In contrast, party state capture intensifies policy implementation and responsiveness because party preferences are immediately turned into policies (e.g. the controversial decommunisation policies of PiS) (Sata and Karolewski 2019). The distinction between party state capture and corporate state capture can also explain why party state capture is more visible in the public space, because the institutional set-up of the state is subject to radical change.…”

“…At the same time, both Fidesz and PiS have been able to generate high electoral support in national and European elections despite the recent authoritarian changes. The systemic changes have been accompanied by populist discourse promising to give the power back to "the true people" (Mudde and Kaltwasser 2017), claiming that liberal democracy after 1989 was an elite project amounting to a treachery of the Hungarian and Polish people by post-communist elites in league with the new liberal aristocracy and international bodies, such as the European Union (Sata and Karolewski 2019).…”