Are American Fusionist Conservatism and Orbánism the same thing?

Measured across six independent axes they are 16.8 apart out of a possible 49.0, which is different families with real common ground. They agree within three points on CU. They diverge by eight points or more on AU, SC.

Atlas / Comparisons / American Fusionist Conservatism vs Orbánism

American Fusionist Conservatism and Orbánism

Measured distance across six axes

16.8 / 49.0 possible

Different families with real common ground. They agree within three points on CU. They diverge by eight points or more on AU, SC.

Axis by axis

Axis	Buckley, Meyer	Fidesz	Gap		Reading
EC · Economic organisation	+08	+04	4	Differs	Real difference, but not the dividing line.
CU · Social and cultural order	+06	+08	2	Agrees	Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about.
AU · Organisation of power	−04	+07	11	Diverges	Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this.
SC · Scale of decision	−04	+06	10	Diverges	Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this.
ID · Rule of membership	+03	+07	4	Differs	Real difference, but not the dividing line.
CH · Method and tempo	−06	−01	5	Differs	Real difference, but not the dividing line.

Each axis runs from −10 to +10; the distance is the straight-line separation across all six at once, out of a maximum of 49.0. How the scoring works →

The evidence behind the widest gaps

A distance figure is worth nothing unless the scores behind it can be checked. These are the artefacts supporting the axes that separate these two most.

Buckley, Meyer · AU −04

Coded −4: constitutional originalism and limited federal power.

Documented act or statuteThe Federalist Society, founded 1982, made originalism the movement's judicial method.

Fidesz · AU +07

The reference case for the entry. Elections are real and the institutions that could reverse their outcome have been restructured.

Documented act or statuteThe 2011 constitution and subsequent amendments restructured the constitutional court and the judicial appointment system.
Documented act or statuteThe 2018 consolidation of some four hundred outlets into a single foundation removed most independent broadcast and print media.

1 more artefact on the full entry →

Buckley, Meyer · SC −04

Coded −4: federalism domestically, and interventionism abroad.

ScholarshipThe tension between limited government at home and global containment abroad was never resolved.

Fidesz · SC +06

Coded +6: sovereigntist against Brussels and strongly centralising internally.

Documented act or statuteMunicipal competences and school administration were centralised after 2010.

What this comparison does not establish

Proximity means similarity of stated position. It carries no claim about competence, circumstance, scale of operation, or what either organisation actually did to the people under it. Two organisations can sit close together and produce entirely different histories, because those things are not on any axis and could not be.

American Fusionist Conservatism

1955–2000 · United States

Free markets, traditional morality and anti-communism fused into one movement; liberty as the political means to a virtuous end.

Orbánism

2010– · Hungary

Explicitly 'illiberal democracy': majority rule unconstrained by liberal checks, Christian national identity, opposition to immigration.

Distance is not the whole answer. Two organisations can sit the same distance apart for entirely different reasons, and the reason is the content of any claim about them. Open the comparison in the atlas to weight the axes yourself.

Open in the atlas