Hungary : an abusive neo-militant democracy

Abstract

Democracy and democratic tolerance have been used for their own destruction in Hungary. Gradually, a special quasi-militant democracy has become the very nature of the governing political parties since 2010. The chapter proposes to call it “abusive neo-militant democracy.” In an abusive neo-militant democracy it is not the case that the “enemies of a constitutional democracy,” have completely turned into “friends” of the illiberal state. The Orbán regime has created its own “enemies” partially among those who would never be thought as a threat to constitutional democracy, but more likely its foundational elements (political opposition, NGOs, free media, etc.). The other layer of enemy creation is the presentation of a group of people that could, allegedly, jeopardise the populist and homogenous vision of the people and the nation (migrants, asylum seekers, and the members of the LGBTQI community) – they are visibly “other” than “us.” “Abusive neo-militant democracy” expresses the ways and methods of how militant democracy’s anti-democratic measures are used for the purpose of the governing political party and not for the good of substantive constitutional democracy. There is one solitary goal: defending “our democracy,” against “them” – those who promote substantive constitutional democracy.