Centrist and Radical Right Populists in Central and Eastern Europe: Divergent Visions of History and the EU

This article compares the politics of history and positions in the EU of six ruling populist leaders and their parties (Fidesz, PiS, SDS, GERB, ANO and OLaNO) from Central and Eastern European (CEE) EU member states. Through the comparison of leaders' biographies and longitudinal analysis of party electoral manifestos an overlap between two types of CEE populism and two types of mnemonic actors in the region is found. Radical right- wing populist parties (Fidesz, PiS and SDS) are more oriented towards national histories, memory wars against ex-communists and critical events for losing or gaining their national sovereignty (mnemonic warriors). Centrist populist parties (GERB, ANO and OLaNO) largely ignore that kind of narrative and focus on anti-corruption or promises of managing the state more effectively (mnemonic abnegators). Radical rightwing populist parties are also more likely to challenge the Brussels elites by using examples from their national histories. Emphasis on national traumas, anti-communism and their leaders' vision of politics labelled here as combat tasks politics seems to be contributing to their Euroscepticism. Combat tasks politics, i.e. seeing politics as a constant battle against political enemies, underpins the Eurosceptic narratives of Kaczynski, Orban and Jansa-former dissidents who were politically socialised while challenging militarised communist regimes.