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Illiberalism,GyörgySchöpfin
Opinion&Analysis
15
chargedsymbolscomeintoplay.Bothliberalismanditsantonymhavebeen
thoroughlysacralised,butthepolaritygivesbothastrongresonance.
Avarietyofproblemsresultfromthis.Ifitwaseverpossibletoquestionthe
veryparticularvariantofliberalismthathascomeintobeing,thisisnowdoubly
diffcult.Forinstance,thequestioningofanideacanbediscreditedbysimply
callingit“illiberal”andonceanideahasbeengiventhatlabel,itisalmostauto-
maticallyseenashostile.Thiskindofoutcomeisundesirablebecauseitresults
inepistemologicalclosures,meaningthatthecentraltenetsofdemocracy–ac-
countability,transparency,feedback–arediffculttobringintoplay.One’sop-
ponentisclosetobecominganenemyandnegativeattributionsareintensifed.
Nomatterwhatthosewhoarelabelledas“illiberal”argue,theyareeasily
dismissedratherthandebated.Andtheprobleminthiscontextisthatneither
liberalsnorilliberalsareawareofthegrowingde-correlationbetweentheirper-
spectivesandthoseofagrowingswatheofsociety.Thevocabularyextends
beyondilliberalism,ofcourse,(italsoincludespopulism,nativism,xenophobia,
racism,extremism,tomentiononlyafew),buttheliberalestablishmenthasno
responsebeyondcondemnationtothemountingchallengesposedbythese
newpoliticalforces.TherealityisthatinseveralEuropeanstatesthesenew
partiescanmobilisearoundathirdofthepopularvote.
Howcanitbe,onemightaskrhetorically,thatthosewhomoneregardsposi-
tivelyasvotersandcitizensaresimultaneouslydisdainedaspopulistfodder
(Hillary’s“deplorables”cometomind)?Therearetwoclassicandwrong-headed
answersinresponsetothislackofcongruence.OneistheoldMarxistnotionof
“falseconsciousness”;theotheris“elitemanipulation”(Leninwasinthehabit
ofreferringto“thecraftybourgeoisie”).Themoreprobableanswer,however,is
thatvotersnolongerhavefaithinliberalismanditissimplytoopainfulforsome
toacceptthisreality.
So,tocomebacktoilliberal:OrbánsoughttomakeaveryHungarianpoint,
buthisopponentstookhisword,extendeditscompass,redefneditandarenow
ironicallytrappedbyit.Illiberalism,populismandthelikehavepopularsupport
atthismoment,andtheyhaveresultedinachallengetoliberalismthatseems
insuperableaslongasdemocraticconditionsaresustained.Beyondthat,the
wordilliberalcanbereadilyseenasthebestknownHungariancontributionto
thepoliticalvocabularyoftheearly21stcentury.
GyörgySchöpflinisaMemberoftheEuropeanParliamentforHungaryandamember
oftheadvisoryboardoftheInstituteofAdvancedStudiesinKőszegHungary.
