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De-democratization in Hungary: diffusely defective democracy

Title / Series / Name
Democratization
Publication Volume
25
Publication Issue
8
Pages
Editors
Keywords
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14018/13823
Abstract
Scholarly attention has started to shift from democratization and democratic consolidation to trends of democratic deconsolidation, backsliding, regression, and erosion. This article examines Hungary as a deviant and exemplary case for understanding de-democratization. The starting point is the literature on defective democracy, which provides a unified framework of analysis for the causes and the outcomes of democratization. However, as the case of Hungary shows, de-democratization is not simply the mirror of democratization. In Hungary, both the outcome and the process of de-democratization defy expectations. The democratic defects do not conform to any of the standard types, instead resembling a “diffusely defective democracy”. Moreover, existing explanations fail to account for their emergence. The case of Hungary indicates that our knowledge of democratization may be a poor guide to understanding de-democratization.
Topic
Publisher
Place of Publication
Type
Journal article
Date
2018
Language
ISBN
Identifiers
10.1080/13510347.2018.1485015
Publisher link
Unit