Unkarin "illiberaali demokratia" ja politiikan luottoluokittajat

Authors

• Heino Nyyssönen
• Gábor Szabó

Abstract

In this article we analyse recent Hungarian politics and relate it to current crises in Europe. Because of its behaviour and criticism of liberal democracy, a EU country makes an interesting case to study democracy. Our approach evaluates Hungary in general, and particularly concentrates on Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s recent speech on ”illiberal democracy”. At first we discuss naming and a phenomenon, which we call ”a suffix democracy”. Next we relate Hungary to credit rating of politics i.e. measurements of the British Democracy Index. As a counter concept, we study liberalism and its history in Hungary, analyse Orbán’s speech closer, and relate Hungary in the European context. Here the post-2010 controversy is understood as a power struggle between the EU and a member state: the EU has, indeed, put a pressure on Hungary but to promote democratic reforms in its own member state. According to our hypothesis Hungary’s domestic politics had been in crisis already before the global 2008, but since then the economy argument was used to support government’s own methods. By the help of the concepts of crisis and illiberal democracy the Fidesz- KDNP government is watering down its EU critics and narrowing democracy.