IKD Seminar - The Political Economy of Hungarian Authoritarian Populism

Join us for the first IKD Seminar of 2025 as Dr Samuel Rogers talks about his new book - The Political Economy of Hungarian Authoritarian Populism: Capitalists without the Right Kind of Capital?

The book emphasises the importance of state-business relations and external capi­tal for structuring and strengthening authoritarian populism in Hungary. It argues these capitalist relations are crucial for understanding the economic aspects of this ideology and investigates both ‘internal’ and ‘external’ legs of the Hungar­ian political economy. First, how a politically loyal national capital-owning class has subsumed domestic business. Second, the government’s operationalisation of ‘new’ inward transnational capital inflows – especially from China and Russia – to finance large-scale infrastructure projects, which complement extant investment particularly from Germany. Together, these developments have strengthened the hegemonic nature of Hungarian Authoritarian Populism, helping the government to continued electoral success. This model of governance is attractive to similar ideo­logical expressions in the region and beyond who look for an example to emulate.

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Biography

Samuel received his PhD in Global Political Economy from the University of Bristol in 2019. He is a political economist conducting qualitative research on the dynamics and effects of infrastructure development and investment in Europe and beyond. He analyses capitalist transformation from a cultural perspective, with a particular focus on (1) the implications of extra-European capital (esp. from China and the Gulf States) for (inter)national development and (2) illiberal capitalist development. Presently, he works on the ERC-funded project 'REDEFINE', based at The Open University. This research examines what China’s rise means for how we understand global development and specifically, Europe’s place in it. He is a Visiting Scholar at the Osteuropa-Institut, Freie Universität, Berlin. His book (Routledge 2024) entitled 'The Political Economy of Hungarian Authoritarian Populism: Capitalists without the Right Kind of Capital' highlights the importance of state-business relations and external capital for structuring and strengthening populism in Hungary. He has also published several articles in leading peer-reviewed human geography and political science journals including Contemporary Politics, East European Politics, New Political Economy, Political Geography, and Post-Communist Economies among others.