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Viktor Orbán’s use of history in the European refugee crisis

Kareem, Ibrahim LU (2017) EUHR18 20171
European Studies
Abstract
Viktor Orbán as the Prime Minister of Hungary is a figure that dominates headlines both at home and abroad. During his time in Hungarian and European politics, he has never shied away from using history to bolster his political message.  Following the ongoing refugee crisis of 2015, he has employed history as tool against refugees. This paper aims to investigate which aspects of Hungarian history Orbán focuses on in his rhetoric against the refugees coming to Europe, and how he uses it. The hypothesis of this research is that Orbán focuses on the historical trauma of Hungary to stigmatize the incoming refugees, helping him to achieve his political goal of keeping refugees out of Hungary. With shifting demographics in Europe, anti-EU... (More)
Viktor Orbán as the Prime Minister of Hungary is a figure that dominates headlines both at home and abroad. During his time in Hungarian and European politics, he has never shied away from using history to bolster his political message.  Following the ongoing refugee crisis of 2015, he has employed history as tool against refugees. This paper aims to investigate which aspects of Hungarian history Orbán focuses on in his rhetoric against the refugees coming to Europe, and how he uses it. The hypothesis of this research is that Orbán focuses on the historical trauma of Hungary to stigmatize the incoming refugees, helping him to achieve his political goal of keeping refugees out of Hungary. With shifting demographics in Europe, anti-EU sentiment, a rise of nationalism, and global instability, this Hungarian example of how a politician can use history is an important example going forward. Such tactics may be used again by politicians causing further divisions and furthering a us vs them mentality in Europe. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Kareem, Ibrahim LU
supervisor
organization
course
EUHR18 20171
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
European Studies, refugee crisis, Hungary, uses of history
language
English
id
8926115
date added to LUP
2017-10-10 14:52:46
date last changed
2017-10-10 14:52:46
@misc{8926115,
  abstract     = {{Viktor Orbán as the Prime Minister of Hungary is a figure that dominates headlines both at home and abroad. During his time in Hungarian and European politics, he has never shied away from using history to bolster his political message.  Following the ongoing refugee crisis of 2015, he has employed history as tool against refugees. This paper aims to investigate which aspects of Hungarian history Orbán focuses on in his rhetoric against the refugees coming to Europe, and how he uses it. The hypothesis of this research is that Orbán focuses on the historical trauma of Hungary to stigmatize the incoming refugees, helping him to achieve his political goal of keeping refugees out of Hungary. With shifting demographics in Europe, anti-EU sentiment, a rise of nationalism, and global instability, this Hungarian example of how a politician can use history is an important example going forward. Such tactics may be used again by politicians causing further divisions and furthering a us vs them mentality in Europe.}},
  author       = {{Kareem, Ibrahim}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Viktor Orbán’s use of history in the European refugee crisis}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}