Geurasia

Balázs Orbán: Hungary can become a key state of the new world order

Photo: Balázs Orbán/Facebook

Eurasia 16/02/2024 11:01

With its connectivity strategy, Hungary could become a key player in the emerging new world order, assuming the role of a 'Keystone state,' stated Balázs Orbán, the Prime Minister's Political Director during the launch of his book, 'Hussar Cut: The Hungarian Connectivity Strategy', in Budapest on Wednesday.

Hussar Cut: The Hungarian Strategy for Connectivity, Balázs Orbán’s latest book, has been released in Hungarian and English by MCC Press. The Prime Minister’s political director held a book launch event at the Ludovika University of Public Service on 14 February in Budapest, Hungary, where he gave a short presentation outlining the content of his new book, then participated in a panel discussion, as reported by Hungarian Conservative.

According to the article, Balázs Orbán talked about the time after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the United States emerged as the lone superpower, a position—understandably, as the speaker admits—it used to promote agendas favouring its economic and political interests. This period was dubbed by some as ‘the Washington consensus,’ when all the major geopolitical actors believed that the Western economic and political systems would inevitably become the norm across the world. ‘The end of history’ is another term commonly used when discussing this post-Cold War period, as Mr Orbán pointed out: it describes the notion that, with the fall of communism, and due to the interdependence of nations, armed conflicts would become a thing of the past.

However, this view of the geopolitical order of the world has been proven to be wrong in recent years. In a change of character, the United States is now engaged in the strategy of ‘bloc forming’ again, reminiscent of the Cold War era. The author also talked about the strategy of ‘decoupling,’ which refers to the severing of ties between two economies. ‘De-risking’ is a softer version of that—both terms are quite popular among the Washington leadership these days, in reference to dealing with the Eastern power bloc, most notably China.

Balázs Orbán/Facebook

As for Hungary’s place in the new world order, the focus of the second part of Balázs Orbán’s book, the author stressed that the country has a very open, connected economy. It is very export-oriented as well, with the combined value of its exported goods reaching as high as 90 per cent of the annual GDP. Given that we are not rich in natural resources, Orbán continued, we also have to heavily rely on imports as well.

Therefore, bloc forming and decoupling are not in the national interest of Hungary.

Mr Orbán reminded all of the great economic improvements Hungary has made since 2010, which it achieved by being a ‘complex, export-oriented, innovative economy,’ as he put it. However, all this could only be achieved by being highly connected to Eastern economies as well, and with the help of a high volume of FDI (foreign direct investment) inflows.

Mr Orbán is under no delusion that the Hungarian government could change the worldview of the greatest superpowers of the West. However, the country does not have to take instructions from them either, and can follow its own strategy of connectivity, cultivating economic ties with countries from the Eastern bloc as well. The speaker also discussed in detail Hungary’s aspiration of becoming a ‘keystone state’ in the region, which he defined as states small in landmass and population that can still influence international political systems as leading regional powers.

#Hungary #Balázs Orbán

Balázs Orbán: Hungary can become a key state of the new world order

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