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Hungary in Democratic Backsliding - An Overview of Internal and External Explanations

Ni, Ping LU (2024) EUHR18 20241
European Studies
Abstract
Democracy has been the cornerstone of the European Union since its foundation, however, since Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party took office, what has been
happening in Hungary is greatly undermining the democratic values in the EU. In that context, this thesis seeks to examine what results in the democratic backsliding in a country which was once one of the most successful stories of democratization. While a great amount of research has been dedicated to the causes of democratic backsliding in Hungary, most of them focus on either domestic or EU-level explanations. Meanwhile, this thesis argues that a combination of internal and external factors contributes to the erosion of democracy in Hungary. In order to support this argument, the... (More)
Democracy has been the cornerstone of the European Union since its foundation, however, since Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party took office, what has been
happening in Hungary is greatly undermining the democratic values in the EU. In that context, this thesis seeks to examine what results in the democratic backsliding in a country which was once one of the most successful stories of democratization. While a great amount of research has been dedicated to the causes of democratic backsliding in Hungary, most of them focus on either domestic or EU-level explanations. Meanwhile, this thesis argues that a combination of internal and external factors contributes to the erosion of democracy in Hungary. In order to support this argument, the thesis adopts policy analysis for the EU-level explanation while employing a combination of historical analysis and analysis of survey data to explore the domestic trigger. The findings show that externally, the EU mechanisms, which are Copenhagen Criteria and Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union, create a permissive environment for the democratic backsliding in Hungary. Meanwhile, internally speaking, a weak civic culture in Hungarian society embodying low consciousness of democracy, low public participation and distrust of public institutions allows the executives to continuously increase their power. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Ni, Ping LU
supervisor
organization
course
EUHR18 20241
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Hungary, Democratic backsliding, Copenhagen Criteria, Article 7, Civic culture, European Studies, policy analysis
language
English
id
9173380
date added to LUP
2024-09-11 15:55:56
date last changed
2024-09-11 15:55:56
@misc{9173380,
  abstract     = {{Democracy has been the cornerstone of the European Union since its foundation, however, since Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party took office, what has been
happening in Hungary is greatly undermining the democratic values in the EU. In that context, this thesis seeks to examine what results in the democratic backsliding in a country which was once one of the most successful stories of democratization. While a great amount of research has been dedicated to the causes of democratic backsliding in Hungary, most of them focus on either domestic or EU-level explanations. Meanwhile, this thesis argues that a combination of internal and external factors contributes to the erosion of democracy in Hungary. In order to support this argument, the thesis adopts policy analysis for the EU-level explanation while employing a combination of historical analysis and analysis of survey data to explore the domestic trigger. The findings show that externally, the EU mechanisms, which are Copenhagen Criteria and Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union, create a permissive environment for the democratic backsliding in Hungary. Meanwhile, internally speaking, a weak civic culture in Hungarian society embodying low consciousness of democracy, low public participation and distrust of public institutions allows the executives to continuously increase their power.}},
  author       = {{Ni, Ping}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Hungary in Democratic Backsliding - An Overview of Internal and External Explanations}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}