The External Challenge to Populist Discourse Survival through language?

Abstract

This thesis studies the impact of a major external event on the discourse of domestic populist parties. By using a Most Similar Systems Design and a discursive tracing method, this thesis examines the effect of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on the populist discourse in speeches and statements made by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki of the PiS party in Poland and prime minister Viktor Orbán of Fidesz in Hungary between January 2021 and December 2022. Despite the fact that both parties are situated in a post-communist Central Eastern Europe, a difference in discursive changes between the two parties is observed. While Fidesz partially adapted its narratives, PiS’ discourse was affirmed and reinforced by Morawiecki’s strong crisis framing. The analysis demonstrates that while populist discourse is able to remain coherent when challenged by systemic shocks that threaten the core elite-people divide, there are limits to this flexibility. This thesis suggests that international events can challenge the discursive flexibility of domestic populist discourses, because they are constrained by their pre-existing identification of the populist divide.