Political scientist and international relations scholar Francis Fukuyama says Hungary has shown that it is possible to slide backwards from a liberal democracy to a semi-democratic system.
Francis Fukuyama, author of the book The End of History and the Last Man, gave an interview to Népszava in which he discussed, among other things, the success of Viktor Orbán, the possible re-election of Donald Trump and the future of classical liberalism.
Francis Fukuyama at the opening of Les Rencontres économiques d’Aix-en-Provence in 2013. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Hungary’s illiberal turn
According to Fukuyama, “Hungary has shown that there is a way backwards, that is, that it is possible to slip from a true liberal democracy into a semi-democratic system. The question is whether more countries will follow Hungary down this path or whether the Danish model will prevail. And this is probably the central issue in world politics today.”
Asked by Népszava to what Viktor Orbán’s success can be attributed, Fukuyama said Orbán’s breakthrough success came during the Syrian refugee crisis. Since then, he was able to play on the fear that Hungary would lose its culture because of immigration. “Which is ironic,” the political scientist continued, “because Hungary does not actually have that many immigrants, and there is not really any cultural dilution.”
He believes that Cold War isolationism is an important factor in the turn towards populism in Hungarian political attitudes. After the regime change, Hungary “opened up a little bit to the common Europe, but it also created fears in people that they might lose something.”
Added to this, there is also a sense of nostalgia for the years of communism among certain sections of society. “I find it impossible to understand,” says Fukuyama, “but there are people who look back on communism and think, well, I had a stable job, I didn’t have to worry about having to face a complicated labour market, having to sell my skills, and so on…”
According to the political scientist, illiberal politicians all follow a similar script. One of the main elements of this is that they gain legitimacy through elections – they do not attack democracy outright, for instance, but once elected they start to dominate the media and work from there. In Hungary, too, Fukuyama points out, “the main television channels and newspapers have all fallen into the hands of people close to Orbán.”
Populist politicians then “change the constitution, they change the electoral districts to make it much harder to remove them from power. This is a process that has been going on [in Hungary] for several years.”
“Each step was small, so people didn’t realise how significant it was. But overall, Orbán has built a machine that makes it very difficult to oust him.”
A global future of illiberalism? Fukuyama is not so pessimistic
Donald Trump and Viktor Orbán pose for a picture. Photo: Viktor Orbán / Facebook
Although the global conquest of illiberalism would be “very bad in many ways,” Fukuyama warns against too hasty pessimism. He says liberal political parties still have a future – citing Poland, France, and Britain as examples, declaring “fighting back is possible.”
“Elections must be won,” he says, and although “Hungary did not get this far in the last elections, but I think the split in Fidesz gives hope that there will be fractures within the conservative coalition.”
About the upcoming elections in the United States, Fukuyama thinks that “If Trump is re-elected, it will have very, very serious consequences for both the United States and the international order. He does not like NATO. He does not support Ukraine. Putin is clearly hoping that Trump will have good relations with him.”
Drawing parallels between US and Hungarian politics, he said that he sees a tendency in both countries to turn political debate into personal attacks. “We do not just attack political opinions and party positions, we attack individuals and try to denigrate them in all kinds of ways. This is something that Donald Trump is very, very good at. And he has a lot of imitators around the world. Unfortunately, this is what right-wing politics is like in many countries, including my country and Hungary.”
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Source: Népszava
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7 Comments
This man is pixilated. You can be an isolationist and remain a democracy.
Hungary was right in keeping out the uneducated, criminal illegal aliens out of Hungary in 2015. To date, Germany is still supporting the criminals that entered Germany in 2015. The migrant did not assimilate.
Fukuyama should look up the definition of democracy. Idiot should keep their opinions to themselves.
Mariavontheresa – 100% correct! This guy is obviously a liberal, a cultural marxist, and would even sell out his own country if he could! Hungary can thank its good fortune that it has Orban and not some nutcase like this! It is also a real shame that “Daily News Hungary” prefers to promote this sort of rubbish, rather than the excellence of leaders like Orban, Trump, Putin, Le Pen, etc., etc.!
Interesting read from a distinguished scholar who very well described the right wing populist conservative strategy to gain control of a country. Hungary seems to be a good example of this. And by the way – you can disregard the populist conservative propaganda and read how Germany did well with the 2015 immigrant crisis:
https://www.cgdev.org/blog/five-years-later-one-million-refugees-are-thriving-germany
This guy is, probably deliberately, conflating “liberal democracy” with globalism-socialism.
“Liberal democracy” doesn’t mean unelected and unaccountable N.G.O.s, which are financed by shadowy billionaires from literally the other side of the planet, executing extensive social engineering and societal restructuring. It doesn’t mean erasing your history, your identity, your nationhood. It doesn’t mean destroying the institution of the nuclear family. It doesn’t mean your demographics being altered beyond recognition by letting millions of illegal aliens flood you. It doesn’t mean making your people cower in fear by being soft on crime and punishment. It doesn’t mean towing the line of the diktats of every international organization you’re a member of, issued at the behest of its few powerful members. Etc.
If that is what this dufus means by “liberal democracy,” then, yeah, I am very glad we “devolved” from that and long may it both stay that way and continue further!
His document is probably a case of TLDR. Much easier to just shout “This guy! This man! Obvious cultural Marxist!”.
“Drawing parallels between US and Hungarian politics, Mr. Fukuyama said that he sees a tendency in both countries to turn political debate into personal attacks. “We do not just attack political opinions and party positions, we attack individuals and try to denigrate them in all kinds of ways.””
I rest my case.
Fukuyama attacked the Hungarian leader, P.M. Orban. Why? Has this man ever been to Hungary, met with hundreds of Hungarians, probably not. What is the reason for this article, who is paying him. It is a shame that people that do not even know where the country is become critics. This man’s words should be taken with a pinch of salt and paid no more heed to his words than those of idiots.
The Real Person!
The Real Person!
I Love Hungary!!!