Are Emotions Defining Hungarian Politics?

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has long rewritten the rules of political communication. No longer content with traditional political appeals, Orbán has turned to pride and hubris—an excess of confidence—as the cornerstone of his political messaging. Instead of policy debates or political pledges, his strategy has focused on shaping how Hungarians should feel about themselves and their country.

This was the key tone of Orbán’s political campaign in Hungary’s 2022 general election, as a new book edited by MORES’s researcher Gabriella Szabó, senior research fellow at the Centre for Social Sciences in Budapest, reveals. While "Managing Moral Emotions in Divided Politics: Lessons from Hungary’s 2022 General Election Campaigns" (Palgrave Macmillan) is not part of MORES’s research, its chapters explore the growing weight of emotions in political discourse through four moral emotions: pride, hubris, shame and guilt—topics that Szabó and other researchers across Europe are currently investigating in MORES.

This emotional dimension of political communication has led to a shift in how debates are conducted in Hungary. Using content, visual, and comparative analyses, the book’s authors prove that the 2022 Hungarian political campaign was about government candidates, incumbent or aspiring, clashing over who was morally superior. “With pride, hubris, guilt and shame-inducing language, they were doing it, and the book provides illustrative case studies showing how,” Szabó says.

These cases reveal how an emotive campaign overshadowed real policy debates in the last general elections, sharpening an already politically divided country. MORES’s first working paper, which analysed over five million sentences from Hungarian parliamentary speeches since 1998, shows that local politicians have increasingly relied on joy and fear in their communication. Emotions, both uplifting and unsettling, have become central to local politicians’ strategies.

As the book suggests, Orbán blurs national pride with loyalty to his ruling party, Fidesz. By tapping into Hungary’s collective memory of historical losses and frustrations—spanning two world wars, communist rule, and economic hardships—he offers Hungarians a sense of restored dignity. Most of Orbán’s social media campaign posts featured moral-emotional appeals, with pride and hubris as dominant themes. This sense of pride is not just about being Hungarian; it is about endorsing Orbán’s vision for the nation.

During the election, Orbán spoke of Hungary’s gradual progress with both excitement and modesty, stating that every Hungarian can be proud of his policies. “We are not the best-governed country in the world yet, but still, every year everybody in Hungary can move at least one step forward. Under the present conditions with crises, large-scale migrations and a global pandemic, this is a great performance, of which we want to be proud, and that is right.”

One of the most striking aspects of this strategy, Szabó explains, is Orbán’s ability to turn the nation’s deep-seated collective victimhood into a source of strength. Called the dynamic approach, this strategy focuses on devaluating others’ success, such as the West’s, and idealising one’s own.

Orbán’s emotional rhetoric not only reinforces loyalty at home, but also shapes Hungary’s fraught relationship with the European Union, which has grown more emotional and moralised. In disputes over migration, the rule of law, or financial issues, Orbán regularly frames Hungary as the last defender of traditional values and morals, which he frames as a source of pride, against a European Union that he pictures as weak and liberal.

In contrast, the book highlights how the then opposition leader, Péter Márki-Zay, took a reversed emotional approach. Over a third of his sampled communication leaned heavily on guilt and shame, attempting to morally devalue Orbán, his political allies, and his supporters. “It was a prophet-like tone, telling people directly that they were morally wrong and advocating for political purification,” Szabó explains. “The strict moral stance had a mixed impact. Márki-Zay’s uncompromising standards of ‘purity’ or moral rectitude might have alienated some voters while fostering high hopes in others.” As the book discusses, his defeat resulted in political mourning.

Emotionally loaded discourses resonate among the public, not only as votes. The book investigated citizens’ reactions to these messages. It shows that some voters not only recognise the emotions in political discourses but also respond positively to them: they feel what they are told to feel. Despite their being a minority, these voters are politically engaged and influential in sharing the leader’s views with their networks.

The Hungarian case suggests that political success is not just about what you say—it is about how you make people feel. By tapping into emotions that run deep in the Hungarian collective psyche, Viktor Orbán has crafted a political narrative that resonates far beyond the ballot box. This phenomenon may not be exclusive to Hungary. In MORES, researchers are exploring how this emotional dimension of politics is playing out across Europe. By studying emotions in politics, MORES will create tools to build citizens’ emotional resilience and encourage more balanced political debates.

Book Information

Gabriella Szabó's "Managing Moral Emotions in Divided Politics: Lessons from Hungary's 2022 General Election Campaigns" (2024) is published by Palgrave Macmillan. Read more about the book at: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-67023-7.

Join the Community

Stay updated and gain exclusive scientific insights from MORES by subscribing to our newsletter. Join today.

Contact Information

Contact us at [email protected].