Overview

Hungary, once the poster-child of liberal democracy, is fast becoming an autocracy under Viktor Orbn. After winning an absolute majority in 2010, Orbn launched a series of 'reforms', fundamentally undermining the country's twenty-year, post-Cold War liberal consensus. For supporters and foes alike, the rise and rise of Hungary's prime minister is a vivid example of how democracy can be subverted from within. Zsuzsanna Szelenyi, a leading member of Orbn's Fidesz in its early years, has witnessed first-hand the party's shift from liberalism to populist nationalism. Offering an insider's account of Fidesz's evolution since its creation, she explains how the party rose to leadership of the country under Orbn and made sweeping legal, political and economic changes to solidify its grip on power-from reining in the public media to slashing the number of parliamentary seats. She answers a key question: why has Orbn been so successful, winning widespread support within Hungary and wielding considerable influence in European politics? And how can Hungary's opposition party Together, which she co-founded in 2014, work to turn the country around? Underpinned by Szelenyi's own experiences at the heart of Hungarian politics, Tainted Democracy offers accessible, nuanced insights into the global rise of populist autocracy--and how it can be challenged.

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9781787388024

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Reviews

'There is much illuminating detail... in Tainted Democracy by Zsuzsanna Szelenyi. Read her book - you may learn a lot.' -- Tony Barber, Financial Times 'If you are interested in the gloomy fate of modern Hungary, illiberalism and how a European country can be subverted from the inside, then this is the book for you. Zsuzsanna Szelenyi has lived and breathed Hungarian politics for more than thirty years which means that this is the right book, written at the right time, by the right person.' -- Tim Judah, Special Correspondent for The Economist, and author of In Wartime: Stories from Ukraine 'Szelenyi's insider account relates with forensic detail how Orban--inspired by Berlusconi and Putin--captured Hungarian voters and, in the process, enriched himself and his cronies at the expense of Hungarian democracy. This is a sobering but absolutely essential narrative of aborted democracy in a country that once held such promise.' -- Kati Marton, journalist, and author of The Chancellor 'This compelling book is about how Viktor Orban systematically subverted democratic institutions to build a corrupt and nepotistic system while EU leaders turned a blind eye to Hungary's hijacked transformation.' -- Judy Dempsey, Editor-in-Chief of Strategic Europe, Carnegie Europe 'A cautionary tale for the whole of Europe. With unrivalled insight and precious autobiographical detail, Zsuzsanna Szelenyi traces Hungary's descent into authoritarianism under Viktor Orban.' -- Dimitar Bechev, Lecturer in Russian and East European Studies, University of Oxford, and author of Turkey Under Erdogan: How a Country Turned from Democracy and the West 'A definitive insider's account of how Viktor Orban dismantled Hungarian democracy and replaced it with an autocratic and profoundly corrupt regime. Szelenyi's vivid chronicle will leave readers aghast but forewarned--saddened by the lost promise of 1989 in Hungary but better equipped to recognise any erosion of democracy in their own countries.' -- R. Daniel Kelemen, Professor of Political Science & Law and Jean Monnet Chair in European Union Politics, Rutgers University '[A] masterly new study of the rise of Fidesz and Orban. Szelenyi's Tainted Democracy ... is detailed and thorough. It offers a rigorous account of how Orban bent an initially liberal party to his will, and how he and his acolytes have subverted institution after institution.' -- The Times Literary Supplement

'If you are interested in the gloomy fate of modern Hungary, illiberalism and how a European country can be subverted from the inside, then this is the book for you. Zsuzsanna Szelenyi has lived and breathed Hungarian politics for more than thirty years which means that this is the right book, written at the right time, by the right person.' -- Tim Judah, Special Correspondent for The Economist, and author of In Wartime: Stories from Ukraine

'Szelenyi's insider account relates with forensic detail how Orban--inspired by Berlusconi and Putin--captured Hungarian voters and, in the process, enriched himself and his cronies at the expense of Hungarian democracy. This is a sobering but absolutely essential narrative of aborted democracy in a country that once held such promise.' -- Kati Marton, journalist, and author of The Chancellor 'If you are interested in the gloomy fate of modern Hungary, illiberalism and how a European country can be subverted from the inside, then this is the book for you. Zsuzsanna Szelenyi has lived and breathed Hungarian politics for more than thirty years which means that this is the right book, written at the right time, by the right person.' -- Tim Judah, Special Correspondent for The Economist, and author of In Wartime: Stories from Ukraine 'A cautionary tale for the whole of Europe. With unrivalled insight and precious autobiographical detail, Zsuzsanna Szelenyi traces Hungary's descent into authoritarianism under Viktor Orban.' -- Dimitar Bechev, Lecturer in Russian and East European Studies, Oxford University, and author of Turkey Under Erdogan: How a Country Turned from Democracy and the West

Author Information

Zsuzsanna Szelenyi is a Hungarian politician and foreign policy specialist. In the 1990s, she was an activist and MP for Fidesz, then a liberal anti-Communist party. After working at the Council of Europe for fifteen years, she returned to politics in 2012, representing the liberal opposition in Parliament.

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