From Liberal Democracy to Illiberal Populist Autocracy

Possible Reasons for Hungary’s Autocratization

Bibliographic Data

ID21822394
AuthorsGábor Halmai (0000-0001-9472-5819, Eötvös Loránd University, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume16
Issue2
Pages439-463
Publication date2024-08-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHague Journal on the Rule of Law (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1876-4045 • E-ISSN: 1876-4053
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/s40803-024-00231-6
OpenAlexW4399074982
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited26

The paper looks for the main reasons of how was the Hungarian government of the Fidesz Party lead by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán able to within 13 years undermine the independent checks on their power so that it could convert what had looked like a stable but imperfect democracy into an autocracy? After listing the most obvious reasons the paper looks particularly at, how much is the way of a mostly elite-driven democratic transition using the tools of ‚legal constitutionalism‘and ‚undemocratic liberalism‘without real historical traditions of a liberal democratic constitutional culture and with the regionally determined value system is to blame. This also leads to the question, how to allocate the responsibility for the backsliding between the elites and the citizens, influenced and often manipulated by the leaders

Autocracy · Democracy · Dictatorship · International law · Law and economics · Liberal democracy · Liberalism · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Populism · Public international law · Sociology · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Populism, Right-Wing Movements · Social Policy and Reform Studies

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Open DOIOpen Access