“Eastern Opening” Policy as Political Marketing: Populism and Hungary’s Relations with China under the Orbán Government

ABSTRACT

In this study, we focus on the nexus between the populist domestic politics of Hungary and the Hungarian foreign policy. We find that conventional explanations involving pragmatism and nationalism are limited, so we take the analytical approach of political marketing to understand the rhetoric and behavior of the Orbán government, with special reference to its relations with China. We argue that through its high-profile “Opening to the East” policy, the Orbán government attempted, with mixed outcomes, to communicate its foreign policy promises and results as persuasion and contestation to its domestic audience largely for its own political gains.

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Sibei Sun, two anonymous reviewers, and the editorial team for their helpful comments and suggestions on pervious versions of this paper.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Over the past decades, the concept of political marketing has gained much popularity among scholars of various subdisciplines, such as marketing management, political communication, and electoral studies. Due to this diversity in approaches and emphases, a consensus on its definition has yet to be reached.

2. The China–CEE Institute, a Chinese think tank based in Budapest, has published its annual report on public attitudes toward China in countries of the CEE region since 2017.

3. Corridor X is one of the pan-European corridors, first proposed by the European Commission in 1994. It aims to connect Central Europe with countries in Southeast Europe, including the western Balkans and Greece.

Additional information

Funding

This research is supported by the University of Macau’s research grant [MYRG2023-GRG2023-00017-FSS].