New paper by Ervin Csizmadia 'The Logic of Hungarian Political Development (1990-2022): Historical Political Perspectives' has been published by Lexington Books.

Assuming a historico-political-science approach, the author argues that Orbánism can be understood not from Viktor Orbán himself but an analysis of the longer processes of Hungarian political development. Understanding is not acquiescence but a more complex interpretation than mainstream approaches afford.

“In the last decade, the question of the nature of Hungarian politics has attracted considerable international interest. This is primarily because its attempt to develop a so-called ‘illiberal democracy’ is part of a major new international trend, and because it raises such questions of political theory that are not at all unique to Hungary. The Logic of Hungarian Political Development (1990–2022), focusing on the dilemmas of pattern formation and pattern following, on the nexus of the national and the international, offers a provocative and succinct assessment in a lucid style.” —Gergely Egedy, University of Public Service, Budapest

“Ervin Csizmadia offers a refreshing contribution to the literature on democratic regression. Without neglecting the global framework of the phenomenon, he focuses on analyzing the historical antecedents that made possible and even logical the reemergence of authoritarian rule in post–Cold War Hungary under Viktor Orbán. This book represents a comprehensive attempt to build a scholarly grounded post-liberal interpretation of Central European neo-authoritarianism.” —Stefano Bottoni, University of Florence