De-democratization in Hungary: Diffusely Defective Democracy
Title | De-democratization in Hungary: Diffusely Defective Democracy |
Publication Type | Journal Article |
Authors | Bogaards, M. |
Journal title | Democratization |
Year | 2018 |
Pages | 1481-1499 |
Volume | 25 |
Issue | 8 |
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. |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1080/13510347.2018.1485015 |
Publisher link | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13510347.2018.1485015 |