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Tagged: hungary

A drawing of hands casting their ballot in front of an hungarian flag.

Issues / re:constitution

The Limits of Representation: Three Dimensions of Constrained Choice in Hungary’s 2026 Election

By Stefan Szwed. Hungary’s parliamentary elections on 12 April 2026 were, by most metrics, historic. With turnout approaching 80 percent — the highest in the post-1989 era — the centre-right opposition alliance Tisza founded in 2023 swept Fidesz from power with a constitutional supermajority, ending 16 years of Victor Orbán’s government. The scale of the result was sufficient to turn the system designed to favour Fidesz flatly against it. Three perspectives map, from three distinct empirical angles, a system comprehensively engineered to purposefully narrow the political choices available to specific categories of voters.

A man with dark hair in a blue shirt.

re:constitution / Rule of Law Reflections

Data protection weaponised

By Tivadar Hüttl. This article explores the intricate relationship between data protection regulations and press freedom in Europe, with a particular emphasis on the misuse of data protection laws to initiate Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs). The Hungarian Forbes demonstrates the onerous legal obligations placed on the press and the potential for Data Protection Authorities (DPAs) to function as de facto instruments of SLAPPs.

Issues / Reviews

A Global History of Hungary: Concept, Implementation, Reflection

By Ferenc Laczó, András Vadas, and Bálint Varga. As a recent project on the global history of Hungary aims to demonstrate, studying Central and Eastern Europe through the systematic application of transnational methods and from a truly global perspective can offer original and valuable insights. In this essay, the authors of Magyarország globális története (A Global History of Hungary) would like to outline their agenda of applying transnational methods to the long-term reinterpretation of a country’s history and reflect on the ambition to embed Hungarian history comprehensively in global frameworks.

Issues

The Anticolonial Solidarity Campaign of 1962 in the Hungarian Countryside: An Attempt to Make Global Connections

By Réka Krizmanics. This article discusses a case study of an anticolonial solidarity campaign in the Hungarian countryside based on the archival records of the Hungarian Women’s National Council (HWNC), focusing on spaces and protagonists that are rarely centered in similar investigations. By expanding on this example, it seeks to demonstrate some of the difficulties that arose for women in their practical work that underpinned an important anticolonial initiative.

Academic Freedom / Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin

Notes from the Underground: Academic Freedom, (Un)Civil Society, and “Kulturkampf” in Hungary

By Balázs Trencsényi. The attacks on the autonomy of universities and the attempts to curb the independence of research institutes, especially in the humanities and social sciences, have been central features of authoritarian political projects.

Issues

Grasping the Global: Lessons from the 1970s

By Bence Kocsev A couple of years ago, during one of his eye-opener lectures, Irish-American thinker James M. Skelly coined the term “recovering sociologist”. With this term, he tried to...