Hungary: Between Democracy and Authoritarianism - Tapa dura

"The case against Orban is set out with great passion in this convincing indictment of the most powerful political figure in the eastern EU...This is gloves-off political writing at its best."--The Financial Times

"Paul Lendvai, the Hungarian writer with Budapest roots, sheds light upon the darkening internal affairs of the young Hungarian democracy....Lendvai provides indispensable help for our orientation and attitude towards the country and its representatives."--Die Zeit

"Paul Lendvai is a legend. No one knows Hungary better or is better equipped to navigate its political decent. Lendvai's thesis weaves the critical insights of an outsider with a native's fluency and understanding, all translated through a journalist's eye for detail and narrative, to portray the grim reality of a teetering democratic society."--Frederick Kempe, President and CEO of the Atlantic Council and author of Berlin 1961

"Lendvai, a Hungarian-born veteran Austrian journalist, paints a discouraging picture of Hungary. For those who assume that the country, safely sheltered in the European Union and NATO, is well on the way to democratic stability and western European-style liberalism, this book will come as a bit of a shock. In Lendvai's eyes, the wilful, power-hungry Orban has evolved from a dynamic leader into a calculating nationalist bent on closing off democratic options and ready to exploit anti-Semitism and anti-Roma sentiment. Although Lendvai's indictment is sharpest against Hungary's current leader, he makes plain that the corruption and economic recklessness of earlier governments did their part to bring about the country's degradation. Not surprisingly, Lendvai's assessment has kicked up more than a little dust in Hungary."--Foreign Affairs

"Hungary faces a major crisis affecting its national economy, as well as its foreign policy. With the country moving away from Europe, it is no longer certain whether it will remain part of it. In this critical situation Professor Lendvai's book provides an authoritative account of the background of this crisis and its likely outcome."--Walter Laqueur, author of After the Fall: the End of the European Dream

"Lendvai is one of the grand old men of Central European journalism...but never before has one of his titles provoked such fierce reactions from the powers that be."--Paul Hockenos, The Boston Review

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"The case against Orban is set out with great passion in this convincing indictment of the most powerful political figure in the eastern EU...This is gloves-off political writing at its best."--The Financial Times

"Paul Lendvai, the Hungarian writer with Budapest roots, sheds light upon the darkening internal affairs of the young Hungarian democracy....Lendvai provides indispensable help for our orientation and attitude towards the country and its representatives."--Die Zeit

"Paul Lendvai is a legend. No one knows Hungary better or is better equipped to navigate its political decent. Lendvai's thesis weaves the critical insights of an outsider with a native's fluency and understanding, all translated through a journalist's eye for detail and narrative, to portray the grim reality of a teetering democratic society."--Frederick Kempe, President and CEO of the Atlantic Council and author of Berlin 1961

"Lendvai, a Hungarian-born veteran Austrian journalist, paints a discouraging picture of Hungary. For those who assume that the country, safely sheltered in the European Union and NATO, is well on the way to democratic stability and western European-style liberalism, this book will come as a bit of a shock. In Lendvai's eyes, the wilful, power-hungry Orban has evolved from a dynamic leader into a calculating nationalist bent on closing off democratic options and ready to exploit anti-Semitism and anti-Roma sentiment. Although Lendvai's indictment is sharpest against Hungary's current leader, he makes plain that the corruption and economic recklessness of earlier governments did their part to bring about the country's degradation. Not surprisingly, Lendvai's assessment has kicked up more than a little dust in Hungary."--Foreign Affairs

"Hungary faces a major crisis affecting its national economy, as well as its foreign policy. With the country moving away from Europe, it is no longer certain whether it will remain part of it. In this critical situation Professor Lendvai's book provides an authoritative account of the background of this crisis and its likely outcome."--Walter Laqueur, author of After the Fall: the End of the European Dream

"Lendvai is one of the grand old men of Central European journalism...but never before has one of his titles provoked such fierce reactions from the powers that be."--Paul Hockenos, The Boston Review

How has Hungary, a country once in the vanguard of political and economic reform under Communism, become a chilling example of the new threats confronting democracy in Central Europe? The return of Hungary's demons of the past--nationalism, ethnic hatred, deeply-rooted corruption and authoritarian tendencies--has engendered international concern. Since winning a two-thirds majority in parliament in the spring of 2010, the dynamic right-wing populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban has embarked on a sweeping and ruthless concentration of power and has sought to reshape the state in his own image.

A new constitution and a sweeping series of laws and decrees--radical changes in the judicial and electoral system and the dismantling of constitutional safeguards ensuring the autonomy of the executive branch and the freedom of the media--seem destined to ensure a long-term hegemony of the far right. Meanwhile a campaign of vituperative nationalist rhetoric and the granting of voting rights to 2.5 million ethnic Hungarians living in neighbouring countries are bound to increase tensions in this volatile corner of Europe.

Lendvai offers readers an unsparing and dispassionate account, based on his intimate personal knowledge of Hungary's major political figures and its political culture, of the turbulent events since the collapse of the Communist regime which affect not only Hungary, but also the political and economic stability of the Danube basin.