1. Explaining Eastern Europe: Orbán’s Laboratory of Illiberalism
- Author:
- Peter Kreko and Zsolt Enyedi
- Publication Date:
- 07-2018
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Journal of Democracy
- Institution:
- National Endowment for Democracy
- Abstract:
- The reelection of Fidesz leader Viktor Orbán’s government in Hungary in April 2018 has entrenched a hybrid regime within the European Union. This article discusses some of the most crucial factors that have led to Hungary’s democratic backsliding and supplied the institutional and cultural bases of Fidesz’s rule. The authors particularly focus on phenomena that contributed to the party’s third landslide electoral victory, including the rhetoric of identity politics, conspiracy theories, and the fake news industry. While an idiosyncratic sequence of particular events led to the ascendance of illiberal rule in Hungary, the causal factors involved are virtually omnipresent and could therefore lead to similar outcomes elsewhere.
- Topic:
- Authoritarianism, Elections, Democracy, and Illiberal Democracy
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Eastern Europe, Hungary, and Central Europe