86-408: For the governments of Viktor Orbán , see Orbán Government . Orban Cabinet may refer to: First Orban Cabinet , 2019–2020 Second Orban Cabinet , 2020 Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Orban Cabinet . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
172-858: A hybrid regime , dominant-party system , and mafia state . Orbán defends his policies as "illiberal Christian democracy ". As a result, Fidesz was suspended from the European People's Party from March 2019; in March 2021, Fidesz left the EPP over a dispute over new rule-of-law language in the latter's bylaws. His tenure has seen Hungary's government shift towards what he has called " illiberal democracy ", while simultaneously promoting Euroscepticism and opposition to liberal democracy and establishment of closer ties with China and Russia . He has two younger brothers, both businessmen, Győző Jr. (born 1965) and Áron (born 1977). His paternal grandfather, Mihály Orbán,
258-400: A new constitution behind closed doors, debated it for only nine days in the parliament and passed it on a party line. Orbán rejected suggestions within his party to pursue a more cautious agenda. He would go on to amend the constitution twelve times in his first year in office. Among other changes, it includes support for traditional values, nationalism, references to Christianity, and
344-605: A 2015 CNN reportage, Zakaria said that Turkey under Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had become a textbook case of illiberal democracy. Erik Meyersson observed that using Freedom House ’s measure of liberty , Turkey took the last place among electoral democracies in 2015, scoring worse on the liberty measure than some countries that are not even considered electoral democracies. Since 2016, the Philippines under presidents Rodrigo Duterte and Bongbong Marcos has been described as being in an illiberal democracy. It has been described as
430-561: A 30 year term. Hungarian MFA Peter Szijjarto told reporters that the deal was "the business (transaction) of the century." Westinghouse and Areva , two Western prime contractors, had been lured since 2012 by the Hungarian civil service but eventually had been frozen out of competition by the Orbán government, who chose to sole-source the deal. After the April 2014 parliamentary election , Fidesz won
516-433: A December 2001 agreement between Orbán and Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Năstase ; Slovakia accepted the law after further concessions made by the new government after the 2002 elections. The level of public support for political parties generally stagnated, even with general elections coming in 2002. Fidesz and the main opposition Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) ran neck to neck according to opinion polls for most of
602-564: A coalition with its longtime ally, the liberal Alliance of Free Democrats. Turnout was a record-high 70.5%. Beyond these parties, only deputies of the Hungarian Democratic Forum made it into the National Assembly. The populist Independent Smallholders' Party and the right Hungarian Justice and Life Party lost all their seats. Thus, the number of political parties in the new assembly was reduced from six to four. MIÉP challenged
688-517: A controversial electoral reform, which decreased the number of seats in the Parliament of Hungary from 386 to 199. The new constitution entered into force on 1 January 2012, replacing the Hungarian Constitution of 1949 . In 2012 Orbán's government implemented a flat tax on personal income set at 16%. Orbán has called his government "pragmatic", citing restrictions on early retirement in
774-573: A former dockworker and a war veteran, farmed and worked as a veterinary assistant in Alcsútdoboz in Fejér County , where Orbán first grew up. The family moved in 1973 to the neighbouring Felcsút , where Orbán's father was head of the machinery department at the local farm collective . Orbán attended school there and in Vértesacsa . In 1977, the family moved to Székesfehérvár , where Orbán had secured
860-703: A group of 150 delegates from 17 countries to a two-day seminar on the Perestroika , conscientious objection and the prospects for a pan-European democratic movement, held at the Lawyers' Special College of Social Sciences with the backing of the European Network for East–West Dialogue. In September 1989, Orbán took up a research fellowship at Pembroke College, Oxford , funded by the Soros Foundation which had employed him part-time since April 1988. He began work on
946-493: A key component in the rise of illiberal democracies today is populism . Current populist leaders—especially within Western states—have the tendency to promote illiberal values, a notable example being the exclusion of immigrants and openly xenophobic statements. This wave has been labeled as "xenophobic populism". Authors Cas Mudde and Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser discuss the role of populism in deteriorating liberal democracies. Within
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#17328848233441032-500: A letter to two US senators to lobby for the appointment of a Budapest-based Lockheed manager to be the US ambassador to Hungary. The government was also involved in a lengthy dispute with Budapest City Council the national government's decision in late 1998 to cancel two major urban projects: the construction of a new national theatre . Relations between the Fidesz-led coalition government and
1118-512: A majority in this election, which initially put Orbán's future political career as the leader of Fidesz in question. However, after fighting with the Socialist-Liberal coalition, Orbán's position resolidified, and he was elected president of Fidesz for yet another term in May 2007. On 1 November, Orbán and his party announced their plans to stage several large-scale demonstrations across Hungary on
1204-657: A majority, garnering 133 of the 199 seats in the National Assembly. While Orbán's party won a large majority, it received 44.5% of the national vote, 8.7% less than in 2010. In a speech in July 2014 in Băile Tușnad , a remote village in Romania, at the Bálványos Free Summer University and Student Camp Orbán first publicly articulated an ideology of illiberalism. He described the Western 2007–2008 financial crisis as
1290-687: A mandate to act in any way they see fit as long as they hold regular elections . Lack of liberties such as freedom of speech and freedom of assembly make opposition extremely difficult. The rulers may centralize powers between branches of the central government and local government (exhibiting no separation of powers ). Media are often controlled by the state and strongly support the regime. Non-governmental organizations may face onerous regulations or simply be prohibited. The regime may use red tape , economic pressure, imprisonment or violence against its critics. Zakaria believes that constitutional liberalism can bring democracy, but not vice versa. There
1376-545: A member of a communist party during the Soviet-era . In February, the government decided that plenary sessions of the Hungarian Parliament would be held only every third week. Opposition parties strongly opposed the change, arguing that it would reduce parliament's legislative efficiency and ability to supervise the government. In March, the government also tried to replace the National Assembly rule that requires
1462-477: A new term to remove the positive connotation of democracy from these states and distinguish them from flawed or developing democracies: competitive authoritarianism . According to Wojciech Sadurski , "illiberal democracy is largely an oxymoron" in Poland under Prawo i Sprawiedliwość , because "[b]y dismantling various checks and balances, and the many democratic institutions related to elections and judicial review,
1548-541: A paradigm shift of the international order , comparable with the two world wars and the dissolution of the Soviet Union . Orbán described his current mission: "while breaking with the [liberal] dogmas and ideologies that have been adopted by the West and keeping ourselves independent from them, we are trying to find the form of community organisation, the new Hungarian state, which is capable of making our community competitive in
1634-514: A place at the prestigious Blanka Teleki grammar school. In his first two years at the school, he served as local secretary of the Hungarian Young Communist League (KISZ) , membership of which was mandatory in order to matriculate to a university, and of which his father was a patron. After graduating from high school in 1981, he completed his military service alongside Lajos Simicska , whom he befriended in high school. He
1720-600: A safe third country for unwanted immigrants or refugees. In 2015 Orbán wrote in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung : "Europe's response is madness. We must acknowledge that the European Union's misguided immigration policy is responsible for this situation." He also demanded an official EU list of "safe countries" to which migrants can be returned. He proposed 6 points to the European Union to tackle
1806-616: A two-thirds majority vote with one of a simple majority, but the Constitutional Court ruled this unconstitutional. Two of Orbán's state secretaries in the prime minister's office had to resign in May, due to their implication in a bribery scandal involving the American military manufacturer Lockheed Martin Corporation . Before bids on a major jet-fighter contract, the two secretaries, along with 32 other deputies of Orbán's party, had sent
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#17328848233441892-640: A worldwide capital and stronghold of illiberalism culturally and politically. In the United States , the Republican Party has in recent years faced criticism that it is becoming increasingly illiberal under the leadership of Donald Trump , who was elected president in 2016 and 2024. According to a 2020 study by the V-Dem Institute , the Republican Party has become more illiberal and populist in
1978-661: Is a Hungarian lawyer and politician who has been Prime Minister of Hungary since 2010, previously holding the office from 1998 to 2002, and the leader of the Fidesz political party since 2003, and previously from 1993 to 2000. He was re-elected as prime minister in 2014, 2018, and 2022. On 29 November 2020, he became the country's longest-serving prime minister. Orbán was first elected to the National Assembly in 1990 and led Fidesz's parliamentary group until 1993. During Orbán's first term as prime minister, from 1998 to 2002 with him as
2064-578: Is a spectrum of illiberal democracies: from those that are nearly liberal democracies to those that are almost openly dictatorships . One proposed method of determining whether a regime is an illiberal democracy is to determine whether "it has regular, free, fair, and competitive elections to fill the principal positions of power in the country, but it does not qualify as Free in Freedom House 's annual ratings of civil liberties and political rights." A 2008 article by Rocha Menocal, Fritz and Rakner describes
2150-469: Is explained how illiberal democracies—in this case autocratic regimes—may try to demonstrate false liberal tendencies in order to consolidate their regime. According to Marlène Laruelle , there are "significant differences between illiberalism and conservatism" as it has been "traditionally understood" The key element that dissociates illiberalism from conservatism is its relationship to political liberalism. Classical conservatives – such as
2236-536: Is often used in connection with the policies of Robert Fico 's government, which has been criticised for censorship of criticism of government politicians in media, abolition of the special prosecutor's office, politically motivated abolition of the Radio and Television of Slovakia by Slovak Television and Radio , unjustified exchanges in various expert positions, the cover-up of the accident of government politician Andrej Danko , etc.). The previous cabinet of Robert Fico
2322-456: Is overly sympathetic to the illiberal regimes and therefore prefer terms such as electoral authoritarianism , competitive authoritarianism , or soft authoritarianism . The term and concept of illiberal democracy derive from the 1995-book Towards Illiberal Democracy in Pacific Asia . Challenging Francis Fukuyama 's end-of-history thesis that political history was culminating in
2408-461: Is producing centralized regimes, the erosion of liberty, ethnic competition, conflict, and war. Recent scholarship has addressed why elections, institutions commonly associated with liberalism and freedom, have led to such negative outcomes in illiberal democracies. Hybrid regimes are political systems in which the mechanism for determining access to state office combines both democratic and autocratic practices. In hybrid regimes, freedoms exist and
2494-435: Is rather the weakening of democratic institutions that has led to the rise of populism and the deterioration of liberal democracies. When discussing this matter, Berman through the example of Western states—United States and Europe—has attributed the cause of populist backlash to national government disregarding the interests of average citizens for business elites. In sum, Berman is trying to demonstrate that populism has led to
2580-436: The 2009 European Parliament election , Fidesz won by a large margin, garnering 56.36% of votes and 14 of Hungary's 22 seats. In the 2010 parliamentary elections , Orbán's party won 52.7% of the popular vote but received a 68% majority of parliamentary seats due to the design of the post-communist electoral system. A two-third parliamentary majority is enough to change the constitution, and in 2011 Orbán's government drafted
2666-533: The 2013 amendments to the Constitution of Hungary . He frequently styles himself as a defender of Christian values in the face of the European Union , which he claims is anti-nationalist and anti-Christian . His portrayal of the EU as a political foe while accepting its money and funneling it to his allies and relatives has led to accusations that his government represents a kleptocracy . It has also been characterized as
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2752-755: The Czech Republic and Poland . The Hungarian membership to NATO demanded its involvement in Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 's Kosovo crisis and modernization of its army. NATO membership also dealt a blow to the economy because of a trade embargo imposed on Yugoslavia. Hungary attracted international media attention in 1999 for passing the "status law" concerning estimated three-million ethnic Hungarian minorities in neighbouring Romania , Slovakia , Serbia and Montenegro , Croatia , Slovenia and Ukraine . The law aimed to provide education, health benefits and employment rights to members of those minorities, and
2838-469: The executive committee of the college's sixty students in 1984. He went on a series of trips to Poland with his classmates and lecturer Tamás Fellegi in 1984–1985 and again in 1987, during the third pastoral visit of John Paul II . Their Polish contacts all along were Małgorzata Tarasiewicz and Adam Jagusiak, members-to-be of the anti-Communist student movement Freedom and Peace [ pl ] from 1985. Orbán submitted his master's thesis on
2924-648: The Budapest police ( BRFK [ hu ] ). The minister was expected to personally intervene to clear Orbán in particular of any sedition charges. After obtaining the higher degree of Juris Doctor in 1987, Orbán lived in Szolnok for two years, commuting to his job in Budapest as a sociologist at the Management Training Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food. In November 1987, Orbán welcomed
3010-548: The Century ), established with Orbán's help and funded by George Soros since 1985, now became the press organ of Fidesz. On 16 June 1989, Orbán gave a speech in Heroes' Square , Budapest, on the occasion of the reburial of Imre Nagy and other national martyrs of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution . In his speech, he demanded free elections and the withdrawal of Soviet troops which brought him to national prominence and announced
3096-511: The Christian Democrats in Europe or the Republican Party in the U.S. before Donald Trump – are/were fervent supporters of political rights and constitutionalism, while illiberalism challenges them. For classical conservatives, the political order is a reflection of the natural and family order, and therefore commands some submission to it. For illiberals, today’s political order is
3182-451: The Fidesz's parliamentary group, in this capacity until May 1993. On 18 April 1993, Orbán became the first president of Fidesz, replacing the national board that had served as a collective leadership since its founding. Under his leadership, Fidesz gradually transformed from a radical liberal student organization to a center-right people's party. The conservative turn caused a severe split in
3268-549: The Hungarian government for improper political influence in the media, as the country's public service broadcaster teetered close to bankruptcy. Numerous political scandals during 2001 led to a de facto , if not actual, breakup of the coalition that held power in Budapest. A bribery scandal in February triggered a wave of allegations and several prosecutions against the Independent Smallholders' Party. The affair resulted in
3354-547: The Lawyers' Special College of Social Sciences, Orbán – alongside Stumpf, Fodor, Kövér and 32 other students and activists – founded the Alliance of Young Democrats ( Fiatal Demokraták Szövetsége , FIDESZ), a liberal - nationalist youth movement conceived as an overt political challenge to the Hungarian Young Communist League, whose members were banned from participation. The college journal Századvég ( End of
3440-619: The Polish Solidarity movement, based on interviews with its leaders, in 1986. In August 1986, shortly before Orbán's wedding with Dr Anikó Lévai in Szolnok in September of that year, a police source reported him to belong to an organisation whose members were lecturing in the United States or West Germany as "the country's expected future leaders " and receiving Western support, while also being privy to top-level government decisions through minister Horváth and enjoying full protection of
3526-566: The Socialist–Liberal stabilization program and pledged to narrow the budget deficit, which had grown to 4.5% of GDP. Economic successes included a drop in inflation from 15% in 1998 to 7.8% in 2001. Annual GDP growth rates were fairly steady under Orbán's tenure, ranging from 3.8% to 5.2%. The fiscal deficit fell from 3.9% in 1999 to 3.4% in 2001 and the ratio of the national debt decreased to 54% of GDP. In March 1999, after Russian objections were overruled, Hungary joined NATO along with
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3612-506: The alternatives. In reality, the non-consolidation of democracy has led to the rise of hybrid regimes that possess "illiberal values". In a 2014 speech, after winning re-election for the first time, Viktor Orbán , Prime Minister of Hungary described his views about the future of Hungary as an "illiberal state". In his interpretation the "illiberal state" does not reject the values of the liberal democracy , rather modern social liberalism , calling it corrupt and unfair and states that
3698-460: The anniversary of the Soviet suppression of the 1956 Revolution. The events were intended to serve as a memorial to the victims of the Soviet invasion and a protest against police brutality during the 23 October unrest in Budapest. Planned events included a candlelight vigil march across Budapest. However, the demonstrations were small and petered out by the end of the year. On 1 October 2006, Fidesz won
3784-406: The article, Mudde and Kaltwasser say that populism—although surrounded by negative connotations—is democratic in nature, as it gives a voice to the people and heavily follows the idea of majoritarian rule. The problem arises within liberal democracies, as the authors say that liberal values and democracy internally contradict each other. Democracy promises majoritarian rule while liberal values promise
3870-400: The capital, Jogász Társadalomtudományi Szakkollégium (Lawyers' Special College of Social Sciences), established in 1983 by István Stumpf . Members of this college were permitted to explore social sciences beyond the socialist canon and the "new" field of " bourgeois " political science in particular. It was there that Orbán met Gábor Fodor and László Kövér . He became chairman of
3956-505: The concept of civil society in European political thought under the guidance of Zbigniew Pełczyński . During this time, he unsuccessfully contested the Fidesz leadership elections in Budapest, which he lost to Fodor. In January 1990, he abandoned his project at Oxford and returned to Hungary with his family to run for a seat in Hungary's first post-communist parliament . On 30 March 1988, at
4042-454: The country should work as a community. Orbán listed Singapore , Russia , Turkey , and China as examples of economically "successful" nations, "none of which is liberal and some of which aren’t even democracies." In 1995 Slovak journalists coined the term " Democracy of the Carpathian type " to describe the illiberal democracy of Vladimír Mečiar 's government in the 1990s. Today, the term
4128-665: The crisis: Illiberal democracy List of forms of government The term " illiberal democracy " describes a governing system that hides its "nondemocratic practices behind formally democratic institutions and procedures". There is a lack of consensus among experts about the exact definition of illiberal democracy or whether it even exists. The rulers of an illiberal democracy may ignore or bypass constitutional limits on their power . While liberal democracies protect individual rights and freedoms, illiberal democracies do not. Elections in an illiberal democracy are often manipulated or rigged, being used to legitimize and consolidate
4214-608: The development of liberal democracies with free and fair elections, Zakaria proposes that the international community and the United States must promote gradual liberalization of societies. Zakaria advances institutions like the World Trade Organization , the Federal Reserve System , and a check on power in the form of the judiciary to promote democracy and limit the power of people which can be destructive. Illiberal democratic governments may believe they have
4300-556: The emergence of illiberal democracies and discusses some of their shared characteristics. Rocha Menocal, Fritz, and Rakner try to draw the similarity between illiberal democracies and hybrid regimes . The authors make the case that the "democratic optimism" in the 1990s—following the collapse of the Soviet Union—has led to the emergence of hybrid regimes holding illiberal values. Initially, the Western powers assumed that democratic consolidation would occur automatically and disregarded
4386-611: The enemy of the natural order and should be fought against. Author Jennifer Gandhi says that many autocrats allow elections in their governance to stabilize and reinforce their regimes. She first says that elections help leaders resolve threats from elites and from the masses by appeasing those capable of usurping power with money and securing the cooperation of the general public with political concessions. Gandhi also claims that illiberal elections serve other useful purposes, such as providing autocrats with information about their citizens and establishing legitimacy both domestically and in
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#17328848233444472-426: The evident liberal values. Moreover, Sheri Berman supports that idea that democracy being unchecked by liberalism can lead to populist—and in some regards dangerous—rule, but further says that liberal values unchecked by democracy can be just as dangerous, as she says, through the use of historical examples, this can lead to oligarchic rule. Berman takes a different perspective on the role of populism and says that it
4558-509: The existence of Fidesz. In the summer of 1989, he took part in the opposition round table talks , representing Fidesz alongside László Kövér. Fidesz became a political party in October 1989. On returning home from Oxford, he secured the first spot on the Fidesz candidate list ahead of Fodor and was elected Member of Parliament from Pest County at the April 1990 election . He was appointed leader of
4644-423: The global rule of capitalist liberal democracy, the book countered that Pacific Asia was not converging on liberal democracy but had instead taken an illiberal turn. Political philosopher Daniel A. Bell contributed a chapter on Confucianism as offering an alternative, illiberal approach to democracy. The term illiberal democracy was then used and popularized by Fareed Zakaria in a regularly cited 1997 article in
4730-466: The government's legitimacy, demanded a recount, complained of election fraud, and generally kept the country in election mode until the October municipal elections. The socialist-controlled Central Elections Committee ruled that a recount was unnecessary, a position supported by observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe , whose only substantive criticism of the election conduct
4816-578: The great global race for decades to come." In November 2014 Orbán proposed a controversial "internet tax" amid accusations of corruption. That same year there were numerous protests against his government , including one in Budapest in November 2014 against the proposed "internet tax". During the 2015 European migrant crisis , Orbán ordered the erection of the Hungary–Serbia barrier to block entry of illegal immigrants so that Hungary could register all
4902-555: The head of a conservative coalition government , inflation and the fiscal deficit shrank and Hungary joined NATO . Orbán was the Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2010. Since 2010, Orbán's policies have undermined democracy , weakened judicial independence , increased corruption and curtailed press freedom in Hungary. During Orbán's second premiership , several controversial constitutional and legislative reforms were made, including
4988-419: The incumbent rather than to choose the country's leaders and policies. According to jurist András Sajó , illiberal democracy should be counted as a type of democracy because it is "democratic in a plebiscitarian sense", while political scientist Ulrich Wagrandl argues that "illiberal democracy is actually more true to democracy’s roots". Other theorists say that classifying illiberal democracy as democratic
5074-462: The international community, and that these varied functions must be elucidated in future research. One example of the regime durability provided by illiberal democracy is illustrated in Mubarak 's Egyptian regime. Lisa Blaydes shows that under Mubarak's lengthy rule, elections provided a mechanism through which elites bought votes to support the government (through distributing needed goods and resources to
5160-468: The journal Foreign Affairs . According to Zakaria, illiberal democracies are increasing around the world and are increasingly limiting the freedoms of the people they represent. Zakaria points out that in the West , electoral democracy and civil liberties (of speech, religion, etc.) go hand in hand. But around the world, the two concepts are coming apart. He says that democracy without constitutional liberalism
5246-406: The last decade with a large increase under the leadership of Donald Trump. Trump's populist style of governance has been considered by some to be a dangerous risk to the heart of liberal democracy, as well as indifference towards traditional democratic allies and praising other "strongman rulers" in the world like Putin . With the different types and different examples of illustrations discussed,
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#17328848233445332-550: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Orban_Cabinet&oldid=1076503554 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Viktor Orb%C3%A1n Prime Minister of Hungary Government Government Others Family Viktor Mihály Orbán ( Hungarian: [ˈviktor ˈorbaːn] ; born 31 May 1963)
5418-411: The membership. Several members left the party, including Péter Molnár , Gábor Fodor and Zsuzsanna Szelényi . Fodor and others later joined the liberal Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ), initially a strong ally of Fidesz, but later a political opponent. During the 1994 parliamentary election , Fidesz barely reached the 5% threshold. Orbán became MP from his party's Fejér County Regional List. He
5504-693: The migrants arriving from Serbia, which is the country's responsibility under the Dublin Regulation , a European Union law. Under Orbán, Hungary took numerous actions to combat illegal immigration and reduce refugee levels. In May 2020, the European Court of Justice ruled against Hungary's policy of migrant transit zones, which Orbán subsequently abolished while also tightening the country's asylum rules. As other Visegrád Group leaders, Orbán opposes any compulsory EU long-term quota on redistribution of migrants. According to him, Turkey should be considered
5590-616: The municipal elections, which counterbalanced the MSZP-led government's power to some extent. Fidesz won 15 of 23 mayoralties in Hungary's largest cities—although it narrowly lost Budapest to the Liberal Party—and majorities in 18 of 20 regional assemblies. On 9 March 2008, a national referendum took place on revoking government reforms which introduced doctor fees per visit and medical fees paid per number of days spent in hospital as well as tuition fees in higher education. Fidesz initiated
5676-513: The opposition is allowed to legally compete in elections, but the system of checks and balances becomes inoperative. Regime type is important for illiberal democracies. This is because illiberal democracies can rise from both consolidated liberal democracies and authoritarian states. Zakaria initially wrote his paper using the term illiberal democracy interchangeably with pseudo-autocracies but today they are used to describe countries that are potentially democratically backsliding as well. Below it
5762-622: The opposition worsened in the National Assembly, where the two seemed to have abandoned all attempts at consensus-seeking politics. The government pushed to swiftly replace the heads of key institutions (such as the Hungarian National Bank chairman, the Budapest City Chief Prosecutor and the Hungarian Radio ) with partisan figures. Although the opposition resisted, for example by delaying their appointing of members of
5848-611: The ousting of József Torgyán from both the FKGP presidency and the top post in the Ministry of Agriculture . The FKGP disintegrated and more than a dozen of its MPs joined the government faction. Orbán's economic policy was aimed at cutting taxes and social insurance contributions, while reducing inflation and unemployment. Among the new government's first measures was to abolish university tuition fees and reintroduce universal maternity benefits. The government announced its intention to continue
5934-592: The police force and military, making welfare more transparent, and a central banking law that "gives Hungary more independence from the European Central Bank". On 14 January 2014 Orbán went to Moscow in order to sign with Vladimir Putin an agreement on the Paks II nuclear power plant (NPP). The Russian state-owned enterprise Rosatom would develop the NPP, and Hungary was to finance the plant by borrowing from Russia. At
6020-631: The previous position of a "naive and devoted supporter" of the Communist regime. However, a state security report from May 1982, when his father was working on an engineering contract in Libya, still described him as "loyal to our social system". In 1983, Orbán went to study law at the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest . He joined an English-model residential college for law students from outside
6106-421: The protection of minorities. Furthermore, it is said that populism is a product of democracy, but in general populist leaders try to use the democratic aspect of liberal democracies to undermine liberalism. This is closely related to Zakaria's argument. The authors try to establish the idea that the rise of populism is undermining liberal values as populism at its core rejects plurality and minority protection—often
6192-458: The public) to acquire regime-enforced parliamentary immunity . This enabled them to accumulate illicit wealth and draw from state resources without legal consequence. Such research suggests that, given the stability-providing function of illiberal elections, states governed under illiberal democracies may have low prospects for a transition to a democratic system protected by constitutional liberties. In order to discourage this problem and promote
6278-482: The referendum against the ruling MSZP. The procedure for the referendum started on 23 October 2006, when Orbán announced they would hand in seven questions to the National Electorate Office, three of which (on abolishing copayments , daily fees and college tuition fees) were officially approved on 17 December 2007 and called on 24 January 2008. The referendum passed, a significant victory for Fidesz. In
6364-477: The rise of illiberal democracies, while the populism has gained traction as a result in democratic institutions being too elite-led. Writers such as Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way reject the concept of an illiberal democracy, saying it only "muddies the waters" on the basis that if a country does not have opposition parties and an independent media, it is not democratic. They say that terms like "illiberal democracy" are inappropriate for some of these states because
6450-528: The ruling party greatly weakens the democratic character of the state". Sadurski prefers the term "plebiscitarian authoritarianism". In 1998, author Marc Plattner said that democracy and liberalism have a turbulent relationship, where throughout history they constantly repel and attract one another. Plattner believes that the rise of illiberal democracies is merely part of a democratization cycle, where states democratizing will often shift from liberal to illiberal tendencies. From this, Plattner believes that through
6536-458: The same time Orbán reassured everyone that the South Stream pipeline would be completed soon. The BBC complained that "there was no formal bidding process for the plant's expansion, and the terms of the loan agreement have not yet been made public," even after the Hungarian parliament approved the deal on 6 February. It later came to light that the loan amounted to €8bn and was financed over
6622-537: The supervising boards, the government ran the institutions without the stipulated number of directors. In a similar vein, Orbán failed to show up for question time in parliament for periods of up to 10 months. His statements, such as "The parliament works without opposition too...", also contributed to the image of arrogant and aggressive governance. A later report in March by the Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists criticized
6708-445: The term implies that these regimes are at their heart democracies that have gone wrong. Levitsky and Way say that states such as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia under Slobodan Milošević , Zimbabwe and post-Soviet Russia were never truly democratic and not developing toward democracy, but were rather tending toward authoritarian behavior despite having elections, which were sometimes sharply contested. Thus, Levitsky and Way coined
6794-543: The year, both attracting about 26% of the electorate. According to a September 2001 poll by the Gallup organization, however, support for a joint Fidesz – Hungarian Democratic Forum party list would have support from up to 33% of the voters, with the Socialists drawing 28% and other opposition parties 3% each. In the event, Orbán's group lost the April parliamentary elections to the opposition Hungarian Socialist Party, which set up
6880-439: Was accused of organised corruption and some politicians were directly or indirectly linked to the kidnapping of Vietnamese businessman Trịnh Xuân Thanh and to the assassination of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée. Indian-American journalist Fareed Zakaria claimed that India was the largest illiberal democracy in the world, in his book The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad . In
6966-618: Was chairman of the Committee on European Integration Affairs between 1994 and 1998. He was also a member of the Immunity, Incompatibility and Credentials Committee for a short time in 1995. Under his presidency, Fidesz adopted "Hungarian Civic Party" ( Magyar Polgári Párt ) to its shortened name in 1995. His party gradually became dominant in the right-wing of the political spectrum, while the former ruling conservative Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) had lost much of its support. From April 1996, Orbán
7052-757: Was chairman of the Hungarian National Committee of the New Atlantic Initiative (NAI). In September 1992, Orbán was elected vice chairman of the Liberal International . In November 2000, however, Fidesz left the Liberal International and joined the European People's Party (EPP). During the time, Orbán worked hard to unite the center-right liberal conservative parties in Hungary. At the EPP's Congress in Estoril in October 2002, he
7138-627: Was elected vice-president, an office he held until 2012. In 1998, Orbán formed a coalition with the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) and the Independent Smallholders' Party (FKGP). The coalition won the 1998 parliamentary elections with 42% of the national vote. Orbán became the second youngest prime minister of Hungary at the age of 35 (after András Hegedüs ) and the first post- Cold War head of government in both eastern and central Europe who had not previously been
7224-537: Was jailed several times for indiscipline , which included a failure to appear for duty during the 1982 FIFA World Cup and striking a non-commissioned officer during a personal altercation. His time in the army also coincided with the declaration of martial law in Poland in December 1981, which his friend Simicska criticised; Orbán recalled expecting to be mobilised to invade Poland. He would later state that military service had shifted his political views radically from
7310-447: Was said to heal the negative effects of the disastrous 1920 Trianon Treaty . Governments in neighbouring states, particularly Romania, claimed to be insulted by the law, which they saw as interference in their domestic affairs. Proponents of the status law countered that several of the countries criticizing the law themselves had similar constructs to provide benefits for their own minorities. Romania acquiesced after amendments following
7396-413: Was that the state television carried a consistent bias in favour of Fidesz. In the 2004 European Parliament election , the ruling Hungarian Socialist Party was heavily defeated by the opposition conservative Fidesz. Fidesz gained 47.4% of the vote and 12 of Hungary's 24 seats. Orbán was the Fidesz candidate for the parliamentary election in 2006 . Fidesz and its new-old candidate failed again to gain
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