‘Whoever is not against us is for us’ sectarianization of politics in Hungary

Metz, Rudolf Tamás and Kövesdi, Veronika (2023) ‘Whoever is not against us is for us’ sectarianization of politics in Hungary. POLITICS RELIGION & IDEOLOGY. ISSN 2156-7689 (In Press)

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Abstract

Modern political trends in democracies, such as post-truth, populist, and identity politics, have produced a strong emotion-based distinction between true believers and non-believers, polarising the perceptions on the legitimisation of political regimes and decisions. The paper aims to capture this process, by introducing the concept of sectarianization built on Max Weber’s thoughts on political sects in democracies and Émile Durkheim’s theory of cults in modern societies. We highlight four core components of sectarianization through the illustrative case of Viktor Orbán’s Hungary: artificially produced charisma, exclusive but voluntary community (schism, conversion and ex-communication), monopolised political rituals, and controlled belief system (propaganda). Building on theories of political/civil religions, personality cults, sociological research on new religious movements, and studies on political behaviour and communication, we demonstrate the analytical usefulness of the concept.

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