The Populist Repertoire: Stories of Development, Patriarchy and History in Austria, Hungary, and Turkey

This paper discusses how political narratives reinforce populism by instigating a certain sense of peoplehood and depicting the leader as the embodiment of the people as well as urging the leader to act unilaterally on behalf of the people at the expense of societal pluralism and institutional checks on the executive. Using contemporary Turkey, Hungary and Austria as cases studies, it demonstrates how stories of history, development and patriarchy are deployed by populist leaders Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (AKP), Viktor Orban (Fidesz), and Heinz-Christian Strache (Freedom Party-FPÖ). In the form of historical narratives, citizens are told the story of a nation moving through history with the leader furthering historical struggles that rhyme with the past. In economic stories, the leaders work for the prosperity and fairness their people against obstacles presented by internal and external forces. In patriarchal stories, the leader justifies vertical decision-making despite comradeship with the people by assuming the role of the protector of the people. Patriarchal stories can be overt, speaking directly to the people with the voice of a father, for example. They can also be covert without familial references yet stressing the wisdom, will, strength and protection of a father vis-à-vis the childlike citizen in constant need for protection. All these forms of stories, which are among the most common but not exclusive, people are defined and redefined in particular ways. The exclusion of certain citizens from “the people” is justified on historical, economic or patriarchal grounds. In addition to the specific content of stories, which can vary depending on the political, historical, social context of the countries, the overarching storylines or metanarratives and their implications cut across cases.