- New Arrivals
Fiction- Historical FictionCrime & ThrillersMysteryScience-FictionFantasyPoetryRomanceChildren’s BooksYoung Adult
- Biographies & MemoirsHistoryCurrent AffairsTech & ScienceBusinessSelf-DevelopmentTravelThe ArtsFood & WineReligion & SpiritualitySportsHumor
Children’s BooksListsGift CardsWhat To ReadMy ListsGames- About & Help
- About Tertulia
- Membership & Co-Ownership
- Shipping & Delivery
- Orders & Payments
- Contact Support
- Send App Feedback
- Follow us
- Download the app
The co-op bookstore for avid readers
Tainted Democracy: Viktor Orbán and the Subversion of Hungary
Hungary, once the poster-child of liberal democracy, is fast becoming an autocracy under Viktor Orbán. After winning an absolute majority in 2010, Orbán launched a series of 'reforms', fundamentally undermining the country's twenty-year, post-Cold War liberal consensus. For supporters and foes alike, the rise and rise of Hungary's prime minister is a vivid example of how democracy can be subverted from within.
Zsuzsanna Szelényi, a leading member of Orbán's Fidesz in its early years, has witnessed first-hand the party's shift from liberalism to populist nationalism. Offering an insider's account of Fidesz's evolution since its creation, she explains how the party rose to leadership of the country under Orbán and made sweeping legal, political and economic changes to solidify its grip on power-from reining in the public media to slashing the number of parliamentary seats. She answers a key question: why has Orbán been so successful, winning widespread support within Hungary and wielding considerable influence in European politics? And how can Hungary's opposition party Together, which she co-founded in 2014, work to turn the country around?
Underpinned by Szelényi's own experiences at the heart of Hungarian politics, Tainted Democracy offers accessible, nuanced insights into the global rise of populist autocracy-and how it can be challenged.
Book Details
- Publisher: Hurst & Co.
- Publish Date: Jan 1st, 2023
- Pages: 352
- Language: English
- Edition: undefined - undefined
- Dimensions: 8.50in - 5.89in - 1.53in - 1.48lb
- EAN: 9781787388024
- Categories: • Europe - Baltic States• Political Ideologies - Democracy• Political Process - General
About the Author
Zsuzsanna Szelényi is a Hungarian politician and foreign policy specialist. In the 1990s, she was an activist and MP for Fidesz, then a liberal anti-Communist party. After working at the Council of Europe for fifteen years, she returned to politics in 2012, representing the liberal opposition in Parliament.
Praise for this book
"There is much illuminating detail... in Tainted Democracy by Zsuzsanna Szelenyi. Read her book -- you may learn a lot." -- Tony Barber, Financial Times"[A] masterly new study of the rise of Fidesz and Orbàn. Szelenyi's Tainted Democracy ... is detailed and thorough. It offers a rigorous account of how Orbàn bent an initially liberal party to his will, and how he and his acolytes have subverted institution after institution."-- The Times Literary Supplement"Hungary's trajectory in the past decade under President Viktor Orban illustrates how right-wing populist nationalism can erode liberal democracy from within. Szelenyi describes that slide with balance, detail, and compelling authority... for readers seeking a balanced analysis of Hungary's recent political evolution, this is the one."-- Foreign Policy"This compelling book is about how Viktor Orbàn systematically subverted democratic institutions to build a corrupt and nepotistic system while EU leaders turned a blind eye to Hungary's hijacked transformation." -- Judy Dempsey, Editor-in-Chief of Strategic Europe, Carnegie Europe"A definitive insider's account of how Viktor Orbàn dismantled Hungarian democracy and replaced it with an autocratic and profoundly corrupt regime. SzelÃ(c)nyi's vivid chronicle will leave readers aghast but forewarned-saddened by the lost promise of 1989 in Hungary but better equipped to recognize any erosion of democracy in their own countries." -- R. Daniel Kelemen, Professor of Political Science & Law and Jean Monnet Chair in European Union Politics, Rutgers University"SzelÃ(c)nyi's insider account relates with forensic detail how Orbàn-inspired by Berlusconi and Putin-captured Hungarian voters and, in the process, enriched himself and his cronies at the expense of Hungarian democracy. This is a sobering but absolutely essential narrative of aborted democracy in a country that once held such promise." -- Kati Marton, journalist, and author of The Chancellor"If you are interested in the gloomy fate of modern Hungary, illiberalism and how a European country can be subverted from the inside, then this is the book for you. Zsuzsanna SzelÃ(c)nyi has lived and breathed Hungarian politics for more than thirty years which means that this is the right book, written at the right time, by the right person." -- Tim Judah, Special Correspondent for The Economist, and author of In Wartime: Stories from Ukraine"A cautionary tale for the whole of Europe. With unrivalled insight and precious autobiographical detail, Zsuzsanna SzelÃ(c)nyi traces Hungary's descent into authoritarianism under Viktor Orbàn." -- Dimitar Bechev, Lecturer in Russian and East European Studies, Oxford University, and author of Turkey Under Erdogan: How a Country Turned from Democracy and the West"A powerfully written, insider account of the transformation of Fidesz from a liberal group of 'Young Democrats' opposing authoritarianism to an anti-liberal group of middle-aged opponents of liberal democracy, and of Orban himself from a charismatic tribune of freedom to a fervent proponent of 'traditional Christian family values' and 'Magyar Greatness'." -- Los Angeles Review of Books"Hungary's trajectory in the past decade under President Viktor Urban illustrates how right-wing populist nationalism can erode liberal democracy from within. Szelenyi describes that slide with balance, detail, and compelling authority... for readers seeking a balanced analysis of Hungary's recent political evolution, this is the one." -- Foreign Affairs''Offers a compellingly cautionary tale. ... [Tainted Democracy] is a complicated, yet fascinating, story about how Orb?n and Simicska built parallel, interlocking political and economic empires.'' -- Survival"Probably the best account both of Orb?n's career and of Orb?nism as a political system ... essential reading for anyone concerned about the threat to democracy posed by those enemies who are at once malicious and astute." -- American Purpose