The Hungarian Patient: Social Opposition to an Illiberal Democracy

This book presents compelling essays by leading Hungarian and foreign authors on the variety of social movements and parties that seek influence and power in a Hungary mired in deep and manifold crisis. The main question the volume tries to answer is: what can we expect after the fall of the semi-authoritarian Orbán regime in Hungary. Who will be the new players? What are their backgrounds? What are their political and social ideals, intentions and methods? The studies in the first section of the volume provide the reader with the reasons of the emergence of these new movements: a deep analysis of the historical, political and cultural background of the current situation. The second part contains essays and case studies which challenge the movements and parties involved to look beyond their current ineffectiveness, and to find ways of meeting the challenges that would allow them to exercise responsible and effective leadership in their time and place. This collection would be the first of the kind both in the field of movement theory/history and democracy studies because it reflects on very recent developments not researched in the international scholarly literature. One would not be able to understand contemporary Hungarian society without reading it before the 2014 elections.

Table of Contents:
Illustrations Preface and Acknowledgements Abbreviations Diagnosis 1 Broken Democracy, Predatory State, and Nationalist Populism András Bozóki 2 Hungary’s Illiberal Turn: Disabling the Constitution Miklós Bánkuti, Gábor Halmai, and Kim Lane Scheppele 3 Enhancing the Effectiveness of Basic Rights Protection in the Ombudsman’s Activity: Toward a European Type of Ombudsman System Máté Szabó Symptoms 4 Party Colonization of the Media: The Case of Hungary Péter Bajomi-Lázár 5 Captured by State and Church: Civil Society in Democratic Hungary Ágnes Kövér 6 Political Empowerment or Political Incarceration of Romani? The Hungarian Version of the Politics of Dispossession Angéla Kóczé 7 Timike and the Sweetie Pies: Fragmented Discourses about Women in Hungarian Public Life Ágnes Kövér 8 The Rise of the Radical Right in Hungary András Tóth and István Grajczjár Immune Reaction 9 Social Responses to the “Hybridization” of the Political System: The Case of Hungary in the Central and Eastern European Context Péter Krasztev 10 The Road of the Hungarian Solidarity Movement János Boris and György Vári 11 Milla: A Suspended Experiment György Petocz 12 The Rise of the LMP Party and the Spirit of Ecological Movements András Tóth 13 The Hungarian Student Network: A Counterculture in the Making Alexandra Zontea 14 Increasingly Radical Interventions: The New Wave of Political Art in Hungary Gergely Nagy Life Perspectives 15 From Belarus to Hungary: Lessons from a Traditionalist Revolution Balázs Jarábik 16 Dark VikTory Joseph B. Juhász 17 Democratic Resurgence in Hungary: Challenges to Oppositional Movement (An Open-Ended Conclusion) Jon Van Til Contributors Index

About the Author :
Jon Van Til is Professor Emeritus of Urban Studies and Community Planning at Rutgers University, Camden.   Péter Krasztev is Associate Professor at the Budapest Business School (BGF).

Review :
"This book stands out among the recent publications on Hungary. Discussing Hungary as a ‘patient’, the book is divided into a diagnosis (analysing the changes introduced by Fidesz), various symptoms (addressing social problems and marginalisation in Hungarian society, often with a long-term perspective), immune reactions (movements and parties that organise protests and resistance to Fidesz) and future perspectives. Every chapter within these sections discusses a different topic or field, though there is some overlap, as patterns of discrimination and roots of opposition groups are similar. Any reader willing to make their way through, even those well-versed in Hungarian politics, will encounter a myriad of interesting ideas and previously unknown facts." "The Hungarian Patient should be compulsory reading for all Europeans, at least for those engaged in policy making and in Civil Society. In an alarming way, this book shows to which end the rightist takeover leads: to a complete deconstruction of liberal democracies..." "Fidesz’s dominance is (was) unprecedented. And what makes the phenomenon even more interesting is that the events leading up to Fidesz’s 2010 electoral victory were democratic. The book is not just about Hungary’s electoral backslide, but rather the democratic emergence of an illiberal party. The strength of this edited book is its depth: With one exception, the contributors are interested in the details of one single case: Hungary."