Ethnopopulists manufacture rival national narratives about contested historical figures.

Evidence

In Orbán’s version of national history, Admiral Miklós Horthy – Regent of Hungary during the interwar period – was a strong conservative, traditional, leader who was ruined by Nazi Germany’s invasion and the attendant destruction of Hungary’s sovereignty. The oppositional discourse, by contrast, casts Horthy as an unambiguous fascist leader who failed to stand up more strongly against Nazi Germany. Resurrecting Horthy’s legacy has been critical to Orbán’s goal of reconfiguring the Hungarian state as a Christian nation that rejects western, secular liberal traditions and celebrates Hungarian leaders (such as himself) who fight against foreign dictates of much more powerful states and organisations (such as the EU). Countering this discourse has been an important goal of the opposition. — Erin K. Jenne and Promise Frank Ejiofor, Ethnopopulism and genocidal…, 37

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s theme that group solidarity is sustained by a manufactured/constructed enemy — here opposed camps manufacture competing heroic pasts around shared historical material, and each side’s enemy imagery props up its internal solidarity. — connects to: Historical narratives can reverse which conquered people anchors national identity — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 138; Historical discourse functioned as an instrument forged in struggles over power. — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 151; Conquered peoples create counter-historiographies to resist triumphant conqueror narratives — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 523 (+2 more)

Related

• Nationalist antiquity arises necessarily from novelty (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Conquered peoples create counter-historiographies to resist triumphant conqueror narratives #expands (0.82) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 523
• Historical narratives can reverse which conquered people anchors national identity #expands (0.78) — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 138
• Nationalist antiquity arises necessarily from novelty #expands (0.75) — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 26
• Historical discourse functioned as an instrument forged in struggles over power. #corroborates (0.72) — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 151