Hungary in Democratic Backsliding - An Overview of Internal and External Explanations
Author
Summary, in English
Democracy has been the cornerstone of the European Union since its foundation, however, since Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party took office, what has been
happening in Hungary is greatly undermining the democratic values in the EU. In that context, this thesis seeks to examine what results in the democratic backsliding in a country which was once one of the most successful stories of democratization. While a great amount of research has been dedicated to the causes of democratic backsliding in Hungary, most of them focus on either domestic or EU-level explanations. Meanwhile, this thesis argues that a combination of internal and external factors contributes to the erosion of democracy in Hungary. In order to support this argument, the thesis adopts policy analysis for the EU-level explanation while employing a combination of historical analysis and analysis of survey data to explore the domestic trigger. The findings show that externally, the EU mechanisms, which are Copenhagen Criteria and Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union, create a permissive environment for the democratic backsliding in Hungary. Meanwhile, internally speaking, a weak civic culture in Hungarian society embodying low consciousness of democracy, low public participation and distrust of public institutions allows the executives to continuously increase their power.
happening in Hungary is greatly undermining the democratic values in the EU. In that context, this thesis seeks to examine what results in the democratic backsliding in a country which was once one of the most successful stories of democratization. While a great amount of research has been dedicated to the causes of democratic backsliding in Hungary, most of them focus on either domestic or EU-level explanations. Meanwhile, this thesis argues that a combination of internal and external factors contributes to the erosion of democracy in Hungary. In order to support this argument, the thesis adopts policy analysis for the EU-level explanation while employing a combination of historical analysis and analysis of survey data to explore the domestic trigger. The findings show that externally, the EU mechanisms, which are Copenhagen Criteria and Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union, create a permissive environment for the democratic backsliding in Hungary. Meanwhile, internally speaking, a weak civic culture in Hungarian society embodying low consciousness of democracy, low public participation and distrust of public institutions allows the executives to continuously increase their power.
Department/s
Publishing year
2024
Language
English
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Document type
Student publication for Master's degree (two years)
Topic
- Social Sciences
Keywords
- Hungary
- Democratic backsliding
- Copenhagen Criteria
- Article 7
- Civic culture
- European Studies
- policy analysis
Supervisor
- Tornike Metreveli