A név kötelez (A szélsőjobboldal kutatásának terminológiai problémái)
Nomen est Omen (Terminological Issues of Studying the Extreme Right)

Summary/Abstract: The paper is based on the statement that language is not an instrument merely reflecting reality, but a factor that is actively constructing it, primarily defining the interpretation of core problems. Social science cannot back out of the responsibility created by the fact that language itself might become an important vehicle of political struggle. Hungarian discourses on right wing extremism, both academic and journalistic, must consider questions of terminology, which are specifically emphasized in international literature on the topic (most importantly the issues of denomination of groups and ideas, arguments pro and con for certain competing names in use). The paper gives a review on major linguistic, epistemological and methodological problems; builds on the above mentioned literature but applies it to the Hungarian historical and political context, while emphasizes that the terminology in use is by all means value-impregnated and keeps much at stake morally and in terms of legitimacy. The paper opts for the use of the name “extreme right”, and seeks to give an adequate, essentialistic definition of it. The concluding part surveys the issues in the internal relations of the best known streams of the extreme right (Fascism and National Socialism) along with the most important approaches towards them, while argues for the importance of the distinction of the two ideologies based on the fundamental differences between them.

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