Post-Enlightenment Hungary with Péter Krekó

In this Vienna Coffee House Conversation, Ivan Vejvoda welcomes Péter Krekó to discuss the emerging “post-Enlightenment” era, characterized by emotional, myth-driven politics that challenge the materialist, evidence-based order established since World War II. Krekó outlines how this shift gives rise to “new romanticism,” where policy debates are increasingly shaped by emotional narratives and skepticism toward scientific expertise. They then examine the mechanics of tribal politics, defined by moralized conflict between “good” and “evil,” unconditional loyalty to leaders, and the instrumental use of disinformation. Krekó shows how this dynamic reframes democratic transgressions as heroism, erodes accountability for corruption, and fuels the spread of conspiracies—even among those who privately doubt them. Turning to Hungary, Krekó analyzes the high-stakes contest ahead of the April 2026 parliamentary elections. He reviews Fidesz’s media dominance, fear-mongering campaigns on Ukraine’s EU accession and migration, and civil-society resilience exemplified by Budapest’s record-breaking Pride march.

Péter Krekó is a Hungarian social psychologist and political scientist. He is an associate professor at the Department of Social Psychology and the Disinformation and Artificial Intelligence research lab at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. Krekó is the director of the Political Capital Institute. His research addresses disinformation, conspiracy theories, political populism, extremism, Russian influence, and political tribalism. He was a visiting fellow with the Engaging Central Europe program of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a nonresident associate fellow at the Johns Hopkins University SAIS Bologna Institute of Policy Research, and a PopBack Fellow at the University of Cambridge. He is the author of The Hungarian Far Right (co-authored with Attila Juhász, 2017) and Crowd Paranoia: The Social Psychology of Conspiracy Theories and Fake News (in Hungarian, 2018). Krekó was also a 2019/20 Europe’s Futures Fellow of the IWM and ERSTE Foundation.