Hungary described as a ’leader democracy’
January 13th, 2024A leading sociologist believes that the incumbent government will be re-elected again and again at least for the foreseeable future.
On the Heti Világgazdaság website, sociologist András Körösényi dismisses theories that describe the political regime in Hungary as non-democratic, dictatorial or autocratic. He believes there are no pure democracies in this world and characterises today’s political system in Hungary as a ‘leader democracy’ where elections are basically plebiscites about the person of Prime Minister Orbán, a charismatic leader for his followers. By contrast, Körösényi remarks, the fragmented opposition has no authoritative leader and is thus doomed to lose election after election. A charismatic leader, he writes, can remain in office even amid extreme hardships, as is happening in Venezuelafor example. He therefore doesn’t expect Mr Orbán to lose an election any time soon – until something unexpected and unforeseeable happens.
Tags: democracy, opposition, Orbán