Are Neoliberalism and Orbánism the same thing?

Measured across six independent axes they are 15.9 apart out of a possible 49.0, which is different families with real common ground. They agree within three points on CH. They diverge by eight points or more on AU, ID.

Atlas / Comparisons / Neoliberalism vs Orbánism

Neoliberalism and Orbánism

Measured distance across six axes

15.9 / 49.0 possible

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

Axis by axis

Axis	Mont Pèlerin, Chicago	Fidesz	Gap		Reading
EC · Economic organisation	+09	+04	5	Differs	Real difference, but not the dividing line.
CU · Social and cultural order	+01	+08	7	Differs	Real difference, but not the dividing line.
AU · Organisation of power	−02	+07	9	Diverges	Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this.
SC · Scale of decision	+02	+06	4	Differs	Real difference, but not the dividing line.
ID · Rule of membership	−02	+07	9	Diverges	Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this.
CH · Method and tempo	−02	−01	1	Agrees	Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about.

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.

Mont Pèlerin, Chicago · AU −02

Coded slightly negative: the doctrine constrains majorities through rules and independent bodies, which disperses rather than concentrates authority.

ScholarshipCentral bank independence, fiscal rules and treaty commitments remove decisions from ordinary majority revision.
ScholarshipThis is delegation, not concentration; the entry for technocratic centrism is coded positive on the same reasoning and separates the two.

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 →

Mont Pèlerin, Chicago · ID −02

Coded mildly universalist: free movement of capital, goods and, for most exponents, labour.

ScholarshipFriedman and Hayek both defended open immigration in principle, with Friedman qualifying it against a welfare state.

Fidesz · ID +07

Coded +7 on migration and on the ancestral definition of the nation.

Documented act or statuteCitizenship was extended to ethnic Hungarians abroad in 2010, with voting rights; the 2015 border fence and asylum restrictions followed.

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.

Neoliberalism

1947– · International

Market competition as the organising principle of policy, insulated from democratic interference by rules and independent institutions.

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