Ebook274 pages7 hours
Post-Communist Mafia State: The Case of Hungary
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
()
About this ebook
In an article in 2001 the author analyzed the way Fidesz, the party on government for the first time then, was eliminating the institutional system of the rule of law. At that time, many readers doubted the legitimacy of the new approach, whose key categories were the 'organized over-world', the 'state employing mafia methods' and the 'adopted political family'. Critics considered these categories metaphors rather than elements of a coherent conceptual framework. Ten years later Fidesz won a two-third majority in Parliament at the 2010 elections: the institutional obstacles of exerting power were thus largely removed. Just like the party, the state itself was placed under the control of a single individual, who since then has applied the techniques used within his party to enforce submission and obedience onto society as a whole. While in many post-communist systems a segment of the party and secret service became the elite in possession of not only political power but also of wealth, Fidesz, as a late-coming new political predator, was able to occupy this position through an aggressive change of elite. The actions of the post-communist mafia state model are led by the logic of power and wealth concentration in the hands of the clan. But while the classical mafia channeled wealth and economic players into its spheres of interest by means of direct coercion, the mafia state does the same by means of parliamentary legislation, legal prosecution, tax authority, police forces and secret service. The new conceptual framework is important and timely not only for Hungary, but also for other post-communist countries subjected to autocratic rules.
Author
Bálint Magyar
Bálint Magyar is Research Fellow at CEU Democracy Institute, working on the subject of patronalism in post-communist countries. He was a member of the Hungarian Parliament (1990-2010). As a Minister of Education (1996-1998; 2002-2006) he initiated and carried out reforms in public and higher education.
Related to Post-Communist Mafia State
Related ebooks
The Hungarian Patient: Social Opposition to an Illiberal Democracy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTwenty-Five Sides of a Post-Communist Mafia State Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The 1956 Hungarian Revolution: A History in Documents Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDemocracy Disrupted: The Politics of Global Protest Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary of Sergei Guriev & Daniel Treisman's Spin Dictators Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRemains of Socialism: Memory and the Futures of the Past in Postsocialist Hungary Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSecrets and Truths: Ethnography in the Archive of Romania's Secret Police Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrom Eastern Bloc to European Union: Comparative Processes of Transformation since 1990 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe new politics of Russia: Interpreting change Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Putinomics: Power and Money in Resurgent Russia Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Orbanland: Why Viktor Orbán's Hungary Matters Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How They Lived: The Everyday Lives of Hungarian Jews, 1867–1940 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShifting Obsessions: Three Essays on the Politics of Anticorruption Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLong Awaited West: Eastern Europe since 1944 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCentral Peripheries: Nationhood in Central Asia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWho Lost Russia?: From the Collapse of the USSR to Putin's War on Ukraine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Russia without Putin: Money, Power and the Myths of the New Cold War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5After Europe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Revolt of the Provinces: Anti-Gypsyism and Right-Wing Politics in Hungary Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Litvinenko File Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In the Name of the Great Work: Stalin's Plan for the Transformation of Nature and its Impact in Eastern Europe Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Joint Ventured Nation: Why America Needs a New Foreign Policy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPutin's Labor Dilemma: Russian Politics between Stability and Stagnation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBack to Istanbul: On Foot across Europe to the Great Silk Road Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrom Peoples into Nations: A History of Eastern Europe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fragile Empire: How Russia Fell In and Out of Love with Vladimir Putin Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paradox of Ukrainian Lviv: A Borderland City between Stalinists, Nazis, and Nationalists Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The People vs. Democracy: Why Our Freedom Is in Danger and How to Save It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond the Developmental State: Industrial Policy into the Twenty-first Century Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJourney to a Revolution: A Personal Memoir and History of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
World Politics For You
What's Really Happening on Planet Earth Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummary of Mollie Hemingway's Rigged Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector’s Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ishtar Rising: Why the Goddess Went to Hell and What to Expect Now That She’s Returning Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ten Myths About Israel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My Promised Land: the triumph and tragedy of Israel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Six Day War: The Breaking of the Middle East Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A World Without Jews Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Reset: And the War for the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Putin's Playbook: Russia's Secret Plan to Defeat America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dear Leader: My Escape from North Korea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Enemies and Neighbors: Arabs and Jews in Palestine and Israel, 1917-2017 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise of the Fourth Reich: The Secret Societies That Threaten to Take Over America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Awakening: Defeating the Globalists and Launching the Next Great Renaissance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-1962 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Knowing Too Much: Why the American Jewish Romance with Israel is Coming to an End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Battle for Justice in Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Palestine: A Socialist Introduction Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Antisemitism: Part One of The Origins of Totalitarianism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Post-Communist Mafia State
Rating: 3.6666666666666665 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
3 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Post-Communist Mafia State - Bálint Magyar
Enjoying the preview?
Page 1 of 1