Using deliberation for partisan purposes: evidence from the Hungarian National Consultation

Abstract

The paper contributes to the field of party politics and the use of deliberative practices by analyzing how a Hungarian political party uses deliberation to its own advantage. Our focus is on the National Consultation, which was designed by the elite populist radical right party Fidesz–Hungarian Civic Alliance (Fidesz-MPP) in 2005 as a deliberative practice to increase the party’s social embeddedness. The National Consultation became a government-funded questionnaire that is sent to Hungarian citizens by mail. Our article builds on existing typologies to show how the party established deliberative procedures to achieve strategic vote and policy seeking goals, as well as legitimacy and other normative objectives with the electorate. The article uses inductive thematic analysis of 27 semi-structured interviews with Hungarian politicians conducted in 2020. Our results provide evidence that deliberative practices can be hijacked by the political actors.