Modern Hungarian Political Thought Ideologies and Traditions

This book introduces the reader into the discursive political pluralism of modern Hungary, roughly from the mid-19th century, with a particular emphasis on the spectrum of contemporary political thought. The book relies on Michael Freeden’s method of ideology analysis, focusing on concepts, principles, values, as well as interrelations, but it puts a greater emphasis on nonverbal traditions as bearers of political thought to explain how political pluralism can subsist in periods of dictatorship. Through this analysis, the authors demonstrate how and why contemporary Hungarian political pluralism is a reflection both on the current trends in Western political thought and on its own past.

Chapter1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: Liberalism, Libertarianism, Republicanism.- Chapter 3: Conservatism.- Chapter 4: Marxism, Anarchism, Feminism, Critical Theory, Communitarianism.- Chapter 5: Népi-Populism.- Chapter 6: National Radicalism, Radical Conservatism, National Socialism, and Traditionalism.- Chapter 7: Religion and Political Thinking in Hungary.

Zoltán Balázs is Professor of Political Science at Corvinus University, Budapest; and Research Professor of the HUN-REN Centre for Social Sciences Institute for Political Science, Budapest. He is the author of The Principle of the Separation of Powers. A Defense (2016) and Constraining Government (2021).

Csaba Molnár is Assistant Lecturer at Corvinus University, Budapest; and Research Fellow of the HUN-REN Centre for Social Sciences Institute for Political Science, Budapest. He is the author of If there is nothing else to say: the local content of interpellations (2022) in the Journal of Legislative Studies and several chapters of the edited volume Policy Agendas in Autocracy, and Hybrid Regimes: The Case of Hungary (2021).