Resilience and variation of hybrid regimes: Türkiye and Hungary

The existing literature on hybrid regimes primarily focuses on rigid conceptualization with the transition paradigm of unstable hybrid regimes. Although some of the literature acknowledges the stability and resilience of the hybrid regimes, the nature of this resilience has attracted little attention, which needs more profound and detailed observation. The present research mainly contributes to the existing literature by covering how hybrid regimes utilize domestic and international economic structures to establish stable and resilient regimes/governance. Furthermore, the present research also demonstrates that the hybrid regime spectrum is flexible instead of a rigid conceptualization of the existing literature. Thus, these regimes can alter their hybrid characteristics with different domestic and international incentives while preserving their hybridity, contributing to their resilience across various political and economic situations. Thirdly, the present research investigates how regime characteristics affect foreign policy decisions and the stance of the hybrid regimes to indicate how they position themselves in international politics. Finally, the present research observes the possible effects of international organizations on the nature of hybrid regimes to demonstrate how third parties can modify the characteristics of these regimes. These contributions are made by comparing the cases of the AKP government in Türkiye and the FIDESZ-KDNP government in Hungary. With their respective leaders, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for Türkiye and Viktor Orban for Hungary, these parties have remained in power more than any parties or leaders in their democratic histories. While these governments have positioned themselves in a liberal democratic world through their historical, political, institutional, and economic relations with Western powers, they remained hybrid regimes with their domestic authoritarian tendencies and close ties with authoritarian powers such as Russia and China. Hence, the present research aims to comprehend the reason behind their hybridity and how they utilize it to establish a stable and resilient regime without transitioning to either liberal democracy or consolidated autocracy. The findings of the research show that these governments have been able to remain resilient through the different political, economic, and international contexts with their flexible policy implementations and interventions due to their hybrid nature. Furthermore, the findings also demonstrate that their foreign policy orientations represent their hybridity and positioning in the international system. Finally, the findings indicate that the observed difference of the EU membership between Türkiye and Hungary significantly affects hybrid flexibility of the cases.