{"title":"From Liberal Democracy to Illiberal Populist Autocracy: Possible Reasons for Hungary’s Autocratization","authors":"Gábor Halmai","doi":"10.1007/s40803-024-00231-6","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>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.</p>","PeriodicalId":45733,"journal":{"name":"Hague Journal on the Rule of Law","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-05-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Hague Journal on the Rule of Law","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s40803-024-00231-6","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"LAW","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
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.
期刊介绍:
The Hague Journal on the Rule of Law (HJRL) is a multidisciplinary journal that aims to deepen and broaden our knowledge and understanding about the rule of law. Its main areas of interest are: current developments in rule of law in domestic, transnational and international contextstheoretical issues related to the conceptualization and implementation of the rule of law in domestic and international contexts;the relation between the rule of law and economic development, democratization and human rights protection;historical analysis of rule of law;significant trends and initiatives in rule of law promotion (practitioner notes).The HJRL is supported by HiiL Innovating Justice, The Hague, the Netherlands and the Paul Scholten Center for Jurisprudence at the Law School of the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.Editorial PolicyThe HJRL welcomes contributions from academics and practitioners with expertise in any relevant field, including law, anthropology, economics, history, philosophy, political science and sociology. It publishes two categories of articles: papers (appr. 6,000-10,000 words) and notes (appr. 2500 words). Papers are accepted on the basis of double blind peer-review. Notes are accepted on the basis of review by two or more editors of the journal. Manuscripts submitted to the HJRL must not be under consideration for publication elsewhere. Acceptance of the Editorial Board’s offer to publish, implies that the author agrees to an embargo on publication elsewhere for a period of two years following the date of publication in the HJRL.