Right-wing Populist Parties as Agents of National Culture and Welfare Chauvinism in the Post-Communist Context

This contribution is set to examine the interplay between ideas of national culture, as cues for national specificity, and welfare chauvinist proposals, aimed at providing welfare services to a narrowly defined ethnic group, in Central and Eastern Europe, as promoted by right-wing populist parties in the region. For this purpose we suggest a comparative framework to account for the various positions that such parties occupy in mainstream politics in the region. Our analysis deals with the case of the right-wing populist party as key opposition force, such as the Movement for a Better Hungary (Jobbik Magyarországért Mozgalom, Jobbik) in Hungary; the case of the right-wing populist party becoming the main governing force, such as the Law and Justice Party (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, PiS) in Poland; and thirdly, the case of an unsuccessful right-wing populist party, such as the United Romania Party (Partidul România Unită, PRU). For the purpose of our qualitative analysis we have collected empirical material both from the latest elections for the European Parliament (May 2014) and the latest national elections in each chosen country (April 2014 in Hungary; October 2015 in Poland; respectively December 2016 in Romania). The aim of this study is to map out the various electoral strategies employed, more or less successfully, that juxtapose welfare chauvinist proposals to cultural protectionist appeals, and consequently shed light on the culture and welfare nexus in the Central and Eastern European context.