Focus on Hungary | Heinrich Böll Stiftung | Prague Office

FOCUS ON HUNGARY

The Heinrich Böll Foundation is compiling a dossier containing articles on the situation in Hungary since the right-wing government came to power in April 2010.

The arguments and opinions presented in the dossier provide an acute, sometimes trenchant critique of the current government and its policies. Democracy is a never-finished task, and we see our role in supporting the democratic voices in Hungary and raising public attention in Europe with regard to critical developments in our common political space.

Zsófia Deák, Editor of the dossier (zsofia.deak@cz.boell.org)

Political Affiliations of First Voters in Hungary

Flash report

HBS with IDEA Institute conducted a survey into first time voter preferences between February and May 2022 via a social media based questionnaire. This survey was completely unique as it specifically targeted the 17-22 age group, which is usually represented with a small sample size in youth studies.

Viktor Orbán has not arrived on the far right just now by his ‘mixed race’ comment

Analysis

Viktor Orbán’s recent thoughts on race theory in Băile Tușnad/Tusnádfürdő in Romania on 23 July have provoked strong reactions in Hungary and internationally. However, the Prime Minister has not said anything new.

By Political Capital

Image of many notes of 20 thousand forints piled on each other

Austerity measures in Hungary: The shape of the crisis to come

Analysis

For the last 12 years, the consecutive Governments headed by Viktor Orbán successfully avoided imposing direct austerity measures on the Hungarian population. This is no longer the case, however.

By Áron Varga

Donald Trump and Viktor Orbán side-by-side on the 2018 NATO Summit in Brussels

How American conservatism is beginning to resemble Hungary

Analysis

Parallels between the American "New Right" and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s brand of illiberalism extend beyond CPAC and his relationship with Trump.

By Sam Denney

Helping point offering free accommodation for Ukrainian refugees at Keleti Railway Station in Budapest, Hungary

A derailed train - The role of the Hungarian state and of civil society in supporting refugees from Ukraine

Commentary

Almost immediately after the war started on 24 February 2022, Ukrainian refugees started arriving in Hungary. The author, who is a university professor, writer, and literary translator, spent three weeks as a volunteer interpreter at Budapest’s railway stations. Her account is based on her own experiences, helpers’ testimonials, information from social media and Facebook groups, and online media.

By Zsuzsa Hetényi

Hungary’s First Female President – a Victory for Women?

Katalin Novák, 44, is Hungary’s very first female President and youngest-ever head of state, elected in March 2022 and inaugurated in May 2022. Novák’s sugar-coated eloquence, international experience, and multilingual skills contribute to making Fidesz internationally presentable. Whether her election is a victory for Hungarian women is questionable, though.

By Anna Frenyó

Pragmatism at its peak – Orbán’s war rhetoric

After years of perpetual rhetorical wars and shadow-boxing with Brussels, international liberal elites and other mostly imaginary enemies, PM Viktor Orbán got himself a real war to deal with.

By Rudolf Berkes

Results at the voting districts of Hungary in 2022

Jobbik’s voters were the most likely to be missing from the opposition coalition’s camp

Flash report

Voters critical of the Orbán system are too diverse to be locked into a single camp. As it seems, it was an illusion to suggest that the majority of former Jobbik voters can vote on a list with center-left parties. The maneuvering space of the fifth Orbán government will only be limited by economic and foreign policy necessities; domestically, it has an easier job than ever before.

By Róbert László

strike pins distributed on the teachers' strike on 15 March 2022

Hungarian teachers protest despite governmental restrictions and intimidation

Article

The nationwide teachers' protests unfolding in the recent months in Hungary have become a target of the ruling FIDESZ-Christian Democrat alliance, which has successfully attempted to contain the widespread general strike, using COVID-19 sanitary restrictions as a pretext and by labelling it a “campaign act of the Left”.

By Anna Frenyó

All dossier articles

Publications

Political integration of Hungarian students, 2019

After a four-year absence, the Active Youth (Aktív Fiatalok) Research Group has
returned with a new survey about the political attitudes of higher education students
in Hungary. The significance of this year’s findings relies on the fact that the political
views of the majority of students sampled in this most recent survey – including
some born as recently as 2000 – were formed during consecutive terms of prime
minister Viktor Orbán and his government, considered by many political scientists
and commentators to be a hybrid regime.

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Focus on Hungary: Refugees, Asylum and Migration

The Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung commissioned a study by Political Capital entitled “Focus on Hungary: Refugees, Asylum and Migration”. The authors of the study analyse the Orbán Government’s rhetoric and policy measures with regard to refugee, asylum and migration issues.

By Attila Juhász, Bulcsú Hunyadi and Edit Zgut

Building Blocks for a Renewed Human Rights Narrative

This study aims to lay the foundations of a collaboration that can be joined by other organisations still being formed, as well as by actors sharing human rights values who can reach out to additional potential supporters. This text is designed to be continuously expanded in the future, so as to further incorporate increasingly sensitive analyses along with a growing pool of creative ideas and recommendations.

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