Non-linearity in the Emergence of Political Nationalism: A Lesson from Hungary

One may have the impression that crowds are necessarily homogenous. In this chapter, we discuss the potential variabilityVariability within a collective and show how a certain level of variability can influence the level of nationalismNationalism in political parties. The chapter introduces Hungarian politicsPolitics and concepts from physics. It shows how a unique measure of entropy may contribute to understanding wholes as different from the sum of their parts. The chapter concludes by pointing to the importance of individuals betting against the crowd to generate optimal variabilityVariability, a potential recipe for moderation in various contexts.