Balázs Böcskei
Balázs Böcskei and Eszter Farkas analyse the influence of partisan alignment on public health issues related to coronavirus. Their findings suggest that even in such a highly polarised country as Hungary, the significance of the pandemic over time is suppressing the influence of party alignment on Covid-related issues Read more
Dionysios Stivas
‘Securitising’ an alleged external threat can be a convenient tool for political leaders to justify extreme measures and policies. Dionysios Stivas looks at the case of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s handling of asylum seekers in 2015 Read more
Julian G. Waller
Some contemporary political developments take inspiration from fascism. But analogies between modern anti-liberal reaction and earlier totalitarian ideologies tend to obscure more than they enlighten. The concept of illiberalism allows us to make cross-national, ideational comparisons – especially transhistorical ones, writes Julian G. Waller Read more
Akudo McGee
Escalating rule of law crises in Poland and Hungary have led to calls for their expulsion from the European Union. Yet, argues Akudo McGee, such calls overlook the fact that the true losers of Polexit or Hungexit won’t be unruly governments Read more
Veronica Anghel
Major cities in Central Eastern Europe have elected liberal and progressive mayors. But, writes Veronica Anghel, socially conservative attitudes and voting patterns are unlikely to shift at national level across the region Read more
James F. Downes
To guard against vote loss, parties of the centre right are taking a tough stance on immigration. James F. Downes, Matthew Loveless and Andrew Lam argue that such parties risk bringing far-right ideology into the political mainstream, and undermining the very tenets of liberal democracy they profess to uphold Read more
Kristian Vrede Skaaning Frederiksen
Citizens of young democracies sanction governments for violating democratic principles. However, as Kristian Vrede Skaaning Frederiksen finds, in new research based on data from 43 countries, citizens of old democracies do not. Given recent attacks on democracy across the world, the insights are important for policymakers as well as citizens Read more
