Viktor Orban and Europe's New Populism

Prime Minister Viktor Orban's overwhelming victory in Hungary's parliamentary elections two weeks ago highlights a form of pragmatic populism that is ascendant in Europe today. This populism has, in part, been made possible by the constraints posed by the European Union, which effectively ensure that the only way to govern is by being predominantly centrist and technocratic. More than 70 percent of national laws in Europe are now created in Brussels through a very long consensual process. For example, the so-called Fiscal Pact effectively deprives European national politics of any room for economic maneuver. As the differences between social and Christian democrats are mostly marginal on many issues, it becomes almost impossible to distinguish these parties in terms of their national economic governance.