Crowds and plebiscitary representation: Rituals of presence in the Orbán regime

The article aims to characterise the role of crowd events in plebiscitary representation, complementing the original Weberian–Schmittian characterisation with Hans-Ulrich Gumbrecht’s notions of crowd and presence ritual. In addition, it shows the relevance of the theoretical argument by analysing the role three types of presence rituals play in maintaining Viktor Orbán’s plebiscitary regime in Hungary, based on available video footage of the events and Orbán’s speeches. Such an investigation has a threefold relevance. First, it contributes to understanding Orbán’s domestic successes by emphasising a hitherto underappreciated aspect of his politics. Second, focusing on presence rituals’ bodily and sensory elements complements existing research on populist rallies. Third, it contributes to constructivist approaches to representation and the evolving interdisciplinary field of performative representation by highlighting, following Gumbrecht, the role oscillations between ‘presence-effects’ (sensorial-bodily processes) and ‘meaning-effects’ (claim-making and the use of symbols) play in the process of making constituencies.