The Role of Populism in the Development of Illiberal Democracy in Hungary

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In the late 80’s Hungary was a leading post-Communist country which successfully implemented certain reforms of economic governance, and in the 90’s introduced liberal democracy and market-oriented economy. However, after two decades, in 2010, based upon the gained 2/3 majority parliamentary seats in Hungarian parliament, Viktor Orbán, the new prime minister, started to build up an autocracy in Hungary. He named his governing system “illiberal democracy.” The Orbán system of governance is obviously autocratic but is still alike democracy having mocked democratic institutions. This Janus-faced nature of the Orbán regime will be examined by the paper. Viktor Orbán successfully using nationalist-populist communication, too. This paper tries to shed light on the reasons of development of illiberal democracy in the European Union by examining the case in Hungary. It highlights the real beneficiaries and losers of the Orbán’s illiberal democracy. The price of partially giving up certain principles of liberal democracy, such as checks and balances, political pluralism, economic equality of market constituents, or the rule of law, will be explored.