Péter Sárosi

For a month now, hundreds of Hungarian students have occupied their campus and resist the government’s pressure to eliminate the autonomy of their university. Their fight attracted international attention and evoked support from broad ranges of society. In this article we try to put this story in the context and present you the challenges of resisting autocracy in a hybrid regime.

In June, the highest court in the European Union ruled that Hungary’s Foreign Agent Law requiring NGOs with foreign funding to self-identify and disclose their donors was unlawful. A few months later, a Hungarian public foundation operated by the government denied Power of Humanity Foundation, a human rights education NGO, EU funding over noncompliance with the same law. The NGO is asking the European Commission to investigate.

100 years ago, on 23 September 1920, the Hungarian parliament adopted the so-called Numerus Clausus Law, often dubbed the first racial, antisemitic law in Europe, long before the Nazi racial laws.

The paranoid white supremacist ideology behind the Christchurch terrorist attack is the same that is used to legitimise the anti-migrant policies of the Hungarian government.

While the rest of Europe watched with horror as Alexander Lukashenko unleashed unprecedented terror on its own people, the Hungarian government helped him to stabilize his power.

Why do so many Hungarians keep voting for the ruling party, Fidesz? Political analysts have been trying to find the answer to this question for several years. There are multiple explanations, some of them are supplementary, others are contradictory to each other.

A soccer player made USD 25 million when he applied to a public tender without any experience. Here is how he did it. He was in the right place, at the right time – and knew the right people.

A meeting of two authoritarian leaders serves to demonstrate their joint defiance against external criticism while both leaders launch a renewed crackdown on their oppositions.