Dynamics of an Authoritarian System: Hungary, 2010–2021

This conceptually synthetic and empirically rich book demonstrates the vulnerability of democratic settings to authoritarianism and populism. Six scholars from various professional fields explore here the metamorphosis of a political party into a centralized authoritarian system. Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party needed less than ten years to accomplish this transformation in Hungary. In 2010, after winning a majority that could make changes in the constitution – two-thirds of the parliamentary seats, they evolved and stabilized the system, which produced again the two-thirds majority in 2014 and 2018. The authors reveal how a democratic setting can be used as a device for political capture. They show how a political entity managed to penetrate almost all sub-fields of the economy to arrive at institutionalized corruption, and how the centralized power structure reproduces itself. With the help of a powerful empirical apparatus—among others analyses of more than 220,000 public tenders, redistributions of state subsidies, and the interconnectedness of those privileged with the political elite — the authors detail the functioning of a crony system and the network aspects of political connections in the rapid enrichment of politically-linked businesses. Their studies demonstrate the role of political capture in this redistribution and how this capture leads to a new social stratification.

Table of Contents:
List of Figures List of Tables Preface Maria Csanádi Introduction Maria Csanádi, Márton Gerő, Mihály Laki, and István János Tóth PART I. Metamomorphosis of a Party into a System 1. Paths to Political Capture and Institutionalized Corruption in Hungary, 2010–2021 Maria Csanádi System evolutions in comparative perspective Political-economic context of systemic evolution From political dominance to political capture Diffusion of political capture into autonomous national, local and grass-roots institutions Forced resource redeployment as instruments of self reproduction of the evolving system Politically selective resource distribution and those most privileged by forced resource redeployment The domestic and external factors of persistent self-reproduction during evolution Conclusions PART II. Reproduction through Redistribution 2. Redistribution and Integration Márton Gerő and Imre Kovách Introduction Welfare redistribution, social integration and inequalities Project-based redistribution Recombinant redistribution Conclusions 3. Cronyism in the Orbán Regime: An Empirical Analysis of Public Tenders, 2005–2020 István János Tóth and Miklós Hajdu Introduction Literature Data and Indicators The Orbán Regime and MGTS+ companies: descriptive statistics Models and estimations Conclusions References Annex 4. Political Connectedness in Hungarian State Capitalism: The Case of the “Fidesz-Connected” Mészáros Group of Companies Mihály Laki Introduction Methodology: data collection and processing Fidesz-connected entrepreneurs on the list of the 100 wealthiest Hungarians Regulatory and procurement advantages or favors Lőrincz Mészáros: family and business Annex Summary Maria Csanádi List of Authors Bibliography Subject Index Name Index

About the Author :
Maria Csanádi is DSc in political science, scientific advisor, emerita at Institute of Economics of the Centre for Economic and Regional Studies in Hungary. Imre Kovách is DSc in sociology, Scientific advisor, Institute of Sociology CSS, professor, University of Debrecen, head of Sociology PhD program. Márton Gero is Assistant professor of sociology at the Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Social Sciences and a research fellow at the Centre for Social Sciences. Miklós Hajdu is MSc in survey statistics, assistant lecturer at the Corvinus University of Budapest. István János Tóth is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Economics of Centre for Economic and Regional Studies at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and managing director of Corruption Research Center Budapest (CRCB).

Review :
"This is a dazzling book, researched in depth, elegantly presented and brilliantly argued. I am not aware of any other book that analyses the workings of the Orbán regime as comprehensively and as insightfully as this volume. This impressive book brings the Orbán dictatorship into full focus and should be in every serious university library." https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2023.2205320