From liberal democracy to illiberalism: new authoritarian regimes, Hungarian illiberalism and the crisis of "real existing liberalism"

Abstract

In post-2010 Hungary, not only have institutional reforms been implemented in the political system, but new patterns of the exercise of power have appeared as well. These changes have eventuated in majority driven democracy, based on less liberal and more authoritarian elements. Without the critical or slightly adjusted interpretation of waves of democracy and democratization theories, understanding is hindered; it is considerably difficult to interpret the characteristics of authoritarian/populist regimes, their social base, and the post-2010 rupture with the hegemonic political thinking that was present after the regime change of 1989 in Hungary. Democratization theories provide an adequate framework for certain institutional comparisons, but they are not sufficient to give full understanding of the diversity of the transitions. Fidesz's concept of politics breaks with the post-communist mainstream political thinking. This breakaway can be interpreted as an anti-liberal turn, within the framework of which the governing party rejects the normative emancipatory concept of politics, the radicalization of the separation of power, the neutralization of the concepts of state and welfare, the depolitization of leadership and the substantive and consensus-oriented perception of democracy. Our direction of research relies less on the terminologies of Western political science when describing Hungarian illiberalism; opting for the ideas of David Ost and Ivan Krastev, it interprets the post-2010 Hungarian regime change as an answer to the crisis of the "enlightened, rationalized liberalism". After the introduction of the dilemmas around democracy research and the characteristics of the new authoritarian regimes, the article continues with the presentation of the crisis of enlightened liberalism, then concludes with an exposition of the post-2010 mainstream Hungarian political thinking.