New Book on ‘Constitutionalism’ in an Illiberal State: András L Pap, Democratic Decline in Hungary: Law and Society in an Illiberal Democracy (Routledge 2018)

Over the past eight years, the redrafting of the Hungarian constitutional landscape, the declaration of illiberal constitutionalism and its contagious effect across Central and Eastern Europe have firmly moved into research spotlight. Political analysts, lawyers, economists and other academics within liberal studies are making attempts to observe and assess the U-turn of this once hailed as promising and consolidated Central-European state, which was after its democratic transition of 1989–90 the eminent state for EU accession. Developments in Hungarian constitutional law after 2010 suggest that the era in Hungarian constitutionalism characterized by a commitment to the rule of law has been replaced by an era where the law is regarded as an instrument available to the government to rule. Under the new constitution, the constraints that follow from the rule of law have been habitually overridden or ignored by the government. The Constitutional Court’s attempts, to continue the legacy of pre-2010 constitutional practice, were reproached by the government who moved to delimit the powers of the Court or overrule its decisions by formal amending the text of the Constitution. Given this, Hungary offers one of the most striking examples of the degree to which an overwhelming political mandate can dismantle and paralyse key democratic institutions designed in the name of liberal constitutionalism yet not deeply rooted in the society. András L Pap’s monograph is a brand-new set of academic explanations that intend to support better understandings of illiberal constitutionalism in the making. The author – who is professor of constitutional law and doctor at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences; research chair and head of department for the study of constitutionalism and the rule of law at Hungarian Academy of Sciences