by Seonghu Lee | Oct 19, 2026 | George Mason University
If elections still exist, what exactly is eroding? Hungary continued to hold elections throughout Viktor Orbán’s sixteen years in power. Opposition parties still existed, and citizens still went to the polls to vote. So why did major democracy-related organizations...
by Juwon Chang | Oct 16, 2026 | George Mason University
When we think about democracy, we usually think about elections. People vote, a party wins, and the government is supposed to represent the people. But what if a country keeps holding elections while the rules become less fair? Hungary made me think about this...
by Aron Kocsis | Oct 8, 2026 | Boston University
The 2026 Hungarian national elections on April 12 have taken the world by surprise. Long-standing populist and stealth-autocrat prime minister Viktor Orbán and his party, FIDESZ, lost the election after 16 years in power to the opposition party TISZA, led by Péter...
by Sebastian Auld | Oct 7, 2026 | Boston University
Péter Magyar’s Tisza government says it is dismantling the system Viktor Orbán built over sixteen years. Several of its tools are the ones this course treats as warning signs of democratic erosion: constitutional amendments that removed Orbán-era officeholders,...
by Nicolas Mendez Comas | Oct 2, 2026 | Boston University
In 2011, Viktor Orbán’s government cleared hundreds of judges from Hungary’s courts by suddenly lowering their retirement age. Fifteen years later the same strategy was utilized against his own appointees. On September 15 parliament seated five new Constitutional...
