Populism, party-cohesion, and the de-Europeanisation of national foreign policy institutions in Hungary and Poland

This article studies the impact of populist radical right (PRR) governments onnational foreign policy institutions (NFPI) in Hungary and Poland between 2014 and2023. Whilst both governments were in a powerful position to transform EuropeanisedNFPIs following an alternative ideational agenda, they differed in terms of their inter- andintra-party cohesion. Offering a novel analytical framework, the article understands partycohesion to refer to ideology and organisational structure within a (coalition) government.It argues that the ability of a PRR government to reorientate Europeanised NFPIs in linewith populist ideas depends upon its inter- and intra-party cohesion. Providing originalempirical evidence through a comparative study of Hungary and Poland, it demonstratesdiverging degrees of intra- and inter-party cohesion with important consequences for thede-Europeanisation of NFPIs in the two EU member states. This finding contrasts withcurrent approaches treating PRR parties and governments as “unitary actors” with asingle set of foreign policy preferences, thus furthering our understanding of therelationship between populism and foreign policy (de-)Europeanisation