IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/anname/v712y2024i1p34-46.html

Legislative Capture in Hungary: Well-Managed Autocratization

Author

Listed:
  • Zsolt Enyedi
  • Bálint Mikola

Abstract

We discuss the case of Hungary’s rapid democratic backsliding under Viktor Orbán as an example of legislative capture. We show that, despite relatively unfavorable conditions for autocratization, Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party have supervised a well-crafted project of institutional transformation and a comprehensive regrouping of financial resources, all of which have led to an effective and stable concentration of power. This power concentration has its limits, given the country’s membership in the European Union, resistance by parts of the judiciary, media initiatives focused on corruption, and local opposition victories; but the national government’s room for maneuver has increased every year since 2010. We provide an overview of the changes that facilitated democratic erosion and an inventory of the actors that still retain a capacity to hinder further autocratization.

Suggested Citation

  • Zsolt Enyedi & Bálint Mikola, 2024. "Legislative Capture in Hungary: Well-Managed Autocratization," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 712(1), pages 34-46, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:712:y:2024:i:1:p:34-46
    DOI: 10.1177/00027162241307778
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00027162241307778
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/00027162241307778?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Helmut K. Anheier & Béla Greskovits, 2015. "The Hollowing and Backsliding of Democracy in East Central Europe," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 6, pages 28-37, June.
    2. Márton Gerő & Anna Fejős & Szabina Kerényi & Dorottya Szikra, 2023. "From Exclusion to Co-Optation: Political Opportunity Structures and Civil Society Responses in De-Democratising Hungary," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(1), pages 16-27.
    3. Márton Gerő & Anna Fejős & Szabina Kerényi & Dorottya Szikra, 2023. "From Exclusion to Co-Optation: Political Opportunity Structures and Civil Society Responses in De-Democratising Hungary," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(1), pages 16-27.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Schnyder, Gerhard & Sallai, Dorottya, 2020. "Between a rock and a hard place: Internal- and external institutional fit of MNE subsidiary political strategy in contexts of institutional upheaval," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 26(2).
    2. Simsa Ruth, 2022. "Changing Civic Spaces in the Light of Authoritarian Elements of Politics and the Covid Crisis – The Case of Austria," Nonprofit Policy Forum, De Gruyter, vol. 13(3), pages 211-228, July.
    3. Maurits J. Meijers & Harmen van der Veer, 2019. "MEP Responses to Democratic Backsliding in Hungary and Poland. An Analysis of Agenda‐Setting and Voting Behaviour," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(4), pages 838-856, July.
    4. Éltető, Andrea & Sass, Magdolna, 2021. "A kapitalizmus változatai és az ipar 4.0 a visegrádi országokban [Varieties of capitalism and industry 4.0 in the Visegrad countries]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(5), pages 490-514.
    5. Andrea Krizsan & Conny Roggeband, 2018. "Towards a Conceptual Framework for Struggles over Democracy in Backsliding States: Gender Equality Policy in Central Eastern Europe," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(3), pages 90-100.
    6. Lenka Bustikova & Petra Guasti, 2017. "The Illiberal Turn or Swerve in Central Europe?," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(4), pages 166-176.
    7. Sallai, Dorottya & Schnyder, Gerhard, 2020. "What is “authoritarian” about authoritarian capitalism? The dual erosion of the private-public divide in state-dominated business systems," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 102943, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Magdalena Solska, 2020. "Democratic Erosion? One Dominant Party and Ineffective Opposition," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(S1), pages 105-120, September.
    9. Simsa Ruth, 2019. "Civil Society Capture by Early Stage Autocrats in Well-Developed Democracies – The Case of Austria," Nonprofit Policy Forum, De Gruyter, vol. 10(3), pages 1-10, October.
    10. Hajnal György & Kádár Krisztián & Kovács Éva, 2018. "Government Capacity and Capacity-Building in Hungary: A New Model in the Making ?," NISPAcee Journal of Public Administration and Policy, Sciendo, vol. 11(1), pages 11-39, June.
    11. Petr JUST & Jakub CHARVÃ T, 2022. "Second parliamentary chambers as safeguards against democratic backsliding? Case study of Czech and Polish senates," Eastern Journal of European Studies, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 13, pages 164-182, October.
    12. James Dawson & Seán Hanley, 2019. "Foreground Liberalism, Background Nationalism: A Discursive‐institutionalist Account of EU Leverage and ‘Democratic Backsliding’ in East Central Europe," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(4), pages 710-728, July.
    13. Lucio Baccaro & Chiara Benassi & Guglielmo Meardi, 2019. "Theoretical and empirical links between trade unions and democracy," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 40(1), pages 3-19, February.
    14. Krisztina Szabó & Ádám Reiff, 2025. "Mobilizing Rural Support: Targeted Government Spending and Democratic Backsliding in Hungary," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 13.
    15. Schnyder, Gerhard & Sallai, Dorottya, 2020. "Between a rock and a hard place: internal- and external institutional fit of MNE subsidiary political strategy in contexts of institutional upheaval," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 102942, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    16. Jonathan Preminger & Assaf S. Bondy, 2023. "Conflicting Imperatives? Ethnonationalism and Neoliberalism in Industrial Relations," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 76(4), pages 646-673, August.
    17. Lipps, Jana & Jacob, Marc S, 2022. "Undermining Liberal International Organizations from Within: Evidence from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe," Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, Working Paper Series qt6fg0093j, Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, University of California.
    18. Lenka Bustikova & Petra Guasti, 2017. "The Illiberal Turn or Swerve in Central Europe?," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(4), pages 166-176.
    19. Jana Lipps & Marc S. Jacob, 2025. "Undermining liberal international organizations from within: Evidence from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 357-383, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:712:y:2024:i:1:p:34-46. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.