Why is Budapest becoming 'our home' for the conservative elites of the Western world

The most popular Christian blogger in the US, bestselling author of „The Benedict Option” Rod Dreher, commenting on his recent visit to Hungary, wrote:

„A few years ago I was present when Orbán told a group of conservative intellectuals that he hoped they would consider Budapest ‘our home’. A few weeks ago, at a reception held in a new café in downtown Budapest, named after the late Sir Roger Scruton, among European, British and American conservatives, it was clear to me that this was now becoming a reality.

In this way, Dreher made it clear that Budapest was becoming an increasingly important reference point for conservative intellectual elites in Western Europe and the United States. Much credit for this goes to British political commentator and former Margaret Thatcher advisor John O’Sullivan, who moved to Budapest in 2014 to become president of the Hungarian think-tank Danube Institute three years later. Thanks to him, it has become possible to attract a number of prominent figures of Western intellectual life to join the collaboration.

In addition to Christian thinkers, representatives of conservative Judaism also come to Hungary, such as Dennis Prager from the United States or Yoram Hazon from Israel - a biblical scholar and political philosopher, author of the famous book The Virtue of Nationalism.

The cross-generational flow of ideas

One might say that there is nothing unusual about this. After all, intellectuals from different countries travel around the world, meeting at various congresses, seminars or conferences, where they deliver lectures that are later published in niche journals or occasional low-cost publications.

The Hungarian case, however, is different. Firstly, conservatives from the West meet not only with their Hungarian counterparts, but also with young people. This year, the Conservative Student Festival in Ostrzyhom (Esztergom) welcomed several charismatic guests from the US, including Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, one of the most influential figures on the American right, the already mentioned Dennis Prager, an influential radio presenter with the Salem Media Group, and Rod Dreher, the star of ‘The American Conservative’. Their presence at this event is a testimony of the flow of ideas to the younger generation; it is an inspiring example that combining tradition with modernity is indeed feasible.

Cultural diplomacy

Secondly: Conservatives visiting Hungary very often meet Viktor Orbán, who spends time discussing cultural, civilisational, philosophical or religious issues with them. In this way, they have the opportunity not only to meet an effective political leader, but above all to become acquainted with his own views on the condition of the Western world and his vision for the future of Europe. To their surprise, they discover in him an equal partner in their intellectual debates.

Viktor Orbán appears to them as the creator of the concept of non-liberal democracy. In a nutshell: the Hungarian prime minister believes that in the Western cultural circle today there is a conflict between democracy and liberalism. The latter has turned into its own opposite and now presents totalitarian tendencies and theocratic charms. Instead of fighting for freedom (as the name ‘libertas’ indicates), it has become the enemy of freedom (freedom of speech, conscience, opinion, religion, etc.). Therefore, as Orbán advocates, it is necessary today to defend democracy and endangered civil liberties against aggressive liberalism by finding support in a different cultural paradigm, which derives from Christian personalism.

Our home

The Hungarian prime minister thus presents himself on the one hand as a theoretician of political philosophy and on the other as a practitioner putting his conservative ideas into practice. He takes part in the intellectual discussion on the future of our continent, and at the same time he influences the shape of European politics. This makes him an intriguing interlocutor for right-wing intellectuals abroad, who, through personal meetings with him, can disseminate his ideas to the Western world. In this way, Hungary is becoming an increasingly important reference point for conservatives from other countries. This is why Rod Dreher felt in the position to write that Budapest is ‘our home’.