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But the hour is late. Orban’s vision has gained considerable appeal throughout Europe. In 2014, when he declared the end of the age of liberalism, he was seen as a pariah; today he is the leader of a xenophobic, authoritarian and often anti-American trend that haunts Poland, Austria and Turkey. He has won many converts to the cause of strengthening nation-states and weakening multilateral institutions, notably the European Union. His hostility to migration, particularly what he calls the “Islamic multitude” that “leads to the disintegration of nations,” is widely shared. He is admired for having built the first wall in Europe — on the Hungarian-Serbian border — to stem the flow of migrants in 2015. (Paradoxically, Hungary used to be admired for tearing down the barrier between itself and Austria, precipitating the fall of the Berlin Wall.)
It remains as true today as it was in the 1930s that appeasement — the sacrificing of one’s principles to avoid confrontation with illiberalism — does not pay. Although we hope the Trump administration will reconsider its flawed strategy, recent events are not promising.
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256 Comments

Heather A. Conley, a senior vice president for Europe, Eurasia and the Arctic at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, was a deputy assistant secretary of state for European affairs during the George W. Bush administration.
Charles Gati, a senior research professor of European and Eurasian Studies at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, served on the State Department’s Policy Planning staff during the Bill Clinton administration.

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