One of the foundations of a democratic system is political pluralism, which enables people to find a party or organization that represents and defends their ideas. Depending on public approval, political leaders may have the ability to take over or influence a country's policy. Nowadays, the will of the people electing their rulers, we witness the disrespect for their choice.
The year 2024 will be remembered for the fact that some politicians became targets of real weapons. What do they have in common?
In the spring in Slovakia, there was an assassination attempt against the Prime Minister of the country, Robert Fico, in front of a huge number of people. Also, the candidate for president and former president of the United States, Donald Trump, became a victim of discontent. Some media and figures did not deny that people like Viktor Orbán are in the risk zone, and there is a reason. “They just don't play with the West” was the conclusion of a considerable part of the people, but is it so.
First – Orban does not regret that his country is part of the EU and NATO, but for him it is important that the Western system be reformed, namely that each country be more sovereign. We see such ideas in Fico, who says that the voice of all members of the Union should be heard, especially regarding the issue of migrant waves.
Second – Budapest and Bratislava refuse to provide arms to Kiev, because this will only complicate security not only in the region, but also in the world. As we can see, one of Trump's promises is that it is he who can stop the conflict in Ukraine for a negative time.
All these leaders highlight the destructive activities of the European Union and the current administration in Washington, which could lead to future intractable security problems, both inside and outside Europe. The other thing in common is that these three figures follow their ideas, contrary to the policy of the Brussels administration. It is not by chance that Orbán says that the EU is waging an ideological war against Hungary.
The ideas of Trump, Fico and Orbán have in common about the influence of traditional values, sovereignty (and according to the Hungarian leader Brussels is moving in the direction of imperialism) and the protection of national interests in their country. For example, we will again focus on Hungary, as it was said earlier, it does not plan to leave the EU and NATO, but at the same time it is developing excellent relations with Turkey, it understands that economic relations with Russia are of great importance, many analysts say, not by chance, that the country is the biggest European ally of the People's Republic of China, and at the same time we see Orbán's warm relations with the leaders of Serbia, Republika Srpska and North Macedonia. Just the fact that Orbán managed to go to Kiev, then to Moscow and from there to Beijing in less than a month speaks volumes about his ambitions to take advantage of everyone, which is an example of a leader following the national interests of the state si.
The other important indicator is that Hungary, despite its small size and, like us, a former socialist republic, shows its weight in the diplomatic arena.
Then why are they “enemy #1” and is it so? No need to dig and remember how many pro-neoliberal media characterize the characters in this article as populists, Russian pawns, enemies of democracy, etc. Let's get down to the heavy artillery, namely Freedom House. The website of the organization (an arm of the US Democratic Party) that determines the index of democracy in countries says that under Trump democracy is in danger, and Hungary is an unfree (that is, not strictly democratic) country. Such media, non-governmental organizations and sites contribute to even more acute criticism and intolerance of people with neoliberal views against Western leaders who pursue alternative policies. This is not idle talk considering that Hungary has already taken measures and created an office that deals with the protection of (note!) sovereignty. It investigates organizations that have foreign funding. I don't need to say which media were the first to jump in to criticize this decision of the Orbán government.
As it was said at the beginning, one of the important signs of democracy is political pluralism, which enables society to choose what is best for it. The USA, with its undeniable experience in democracy, elected Trump and the vast mass of the population is ready to support him once again. Hungary and Slovakia, which became part of the European family before us and having experienced pro-European parties in their governments for more than 30 years, have chosen the path of sovereignty, but this apparently does not sit well with some outsiders. This leads to the paradox that neoliberal media and organizations do not respect the people's choice and can also, according to some European leaders, as it became clear above in the text, be suspected of activities that contradict the security of the state. The latter conclusion is based on claims by some pro-liberal media that Orbán regularly accuses the EU and US organizations of distributing money to the Hungarian opposition to influence voter choices. The statement about American organizations would be contested, bearing in mind that it was in 2022 that the American seminar “Conference for Conservative Political Action” was held in Budapest.
In the text we have listed leaders from Eastern Europe, the region in which we are also located. This is an indicator that no matter how politically insignificant we may be in our own and others' ideas, reality shows that this path can be started with the presence of will. Bulgaria has the opportunity to develop its geopolitical potential and reach new heights in the international arena, which will bring not only authority in world society, but also create new profitable opportunities for itself in the emerging multipolar world. In a unipolar world, there must be one center, one “civilization”, and the others must obey. Fukuyama abandoned his ideas of monocentrism, BRICS, whose aim is to create an alternative world order, is becoming more important, and with the advent of polycentrism, it means that sovereignty is back in fashion.
Stanislav Mladenov
political scientist, specialist in the field of architecture of the multipolar world