Skip to main content

Photo: “Election 2018 in Hungary. Taken on the 8th of April, 2018, around 23.35. Bálna, Budapest. Orbán Viktor announcing the victory of the FIDESZ party.“, by Elekes Andor licensed under CC-BY-SA-4.0. Hue modified from the original.

Deák, András, and Csaba Weiner. “Hungary: More Business, Less Illiberalism.” In Russia and the Future of Europe, pp. 51-54. Springer, Cham, 2022.

Abstract

Hungary has the typical national contours that feature in relations between Central and East European (CEE) EU Member States and Russia. Troublesome historical legacies, relatively minor and narrowing economic relations (except for energy) and sharp party divisions regarding the Russian nexus are generally shared features in CEE. What stands out within this setting are the inherently domestic policy patterns of bilateral relations, especially as far as interrelations between Viktor Orbán’s illiberal leanings along with Euroscepticism and Moscow’s foreign policy agenda are concerned. Viktor Orbán’s and Vladimir Putin’s mindsets partially overlap, creating some ideological foundations for an opportunistic relationship.

illiberalism.org

The Illiberalism Studies Program studies the different faces of illiberal politics and thought in today’s world, taking into account the diversity of their cultural context, their intellectual genealogy, the sociology of their popular support, and their implications on the international scene.