Hungary Under Viktor Orbán: A Domino in The Global Fall of Democracy

Human Rights Research Center

Mar 136 min read

March 13, 2025

US President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in the Oval Office in May 2019. [Image credit: Evan Vucci/AP]

Trump’s rise to power in the United States has many concerned that he will over-exert his power, and for the arguably first time in the United States, we may see an authoritarian - or even fascist - regime. Many are looking through history and around the world to see what this kind of strict regime may look like if and when this happens. A current example of what this could look like comes from Hungary under the authoritarian dictatorship of Viktor Orban, which the Trump administration is resembling - especially during his second term. This isn’t surprising or a false equivalency, given that Trump and Orbán have expressed open admiration and support for one another, and Orbán has been trying to end US military support for Ukraine in alignment with Hungary. Orbán has raised concern across the globe for how the disturbing effects of authoritarian regimes play out, and many of his oppressive policies and corruption should serve as a warning to those in the US. This article will explain how Orbán rose to power, how he has maintained that power, and how he has persecuted various groups in Hungary.

Context

After Viktor Orbán briefly served in 1998 before being defeated twice, he rose to power again in 2010, taking a foothold as an anti-communist leader and setting up his Christian Nationalist party ‘Fidesz’, claiming to be a champion of democracy. Realizing he had to “turn his back on liberalism” to gain power, he has now become an authoritarian leader; aligning with Russia, whom he once criticized so strongly (and who now is an important trade partner with Hungary). Orbán made it more challenging for Fidesz to lose elections using corruption; Fidesz won two-thirds of parliament seats in Hungary’s last two elections despite not winning a majority of votes. He’s also made it difficult for citizens to dissent, using censorship and cracking down on protests. Election fraud, vote tampering, constitution rewriting, and seizing state resources are key components of this corruption. Orbán also seized power over the courts, and issued a “state of emergency”, creating more leeway for him to quickly pass executive action.

Orbán has also gained power using false xenophobic narratives that cater to White supremacists, including the eugenicist Great Replacement Theory, stating that White people will be replaced by other races and must therefore reproduce in order to avoid replacement. Fidesz has also attacked journalists, and criticized (while taking control of) the media. Many free media outlets are now subject to cyberattacks or accused of being funded by George Soros (a left wing Hungarian Jewish billionaire who Orbán has made an enemy of) or US left-wing interests.

Orbán is shifting Hungary away from the European Union and NATO (as other European nations such as Great Britain have done), and turning toward the private business interests that protect him when the EU retaliated by withholding funds. All this as a means to an end of what Orbán calls an “illiberal state.” Although the EU, NATO, and the Council of Europe have condemned Orbán’s authoritarian regime, it seems to do little to stop it.

Another characteristic of authoritarian regimes, including Viktor Orbán’s, is to create enemies of the base they want to gain the support of by oppressing certain groups. In White Christian nationalist regimes such as Orbán’s and Trump’s, these “enemies” are typically people of color, immigrants, women, disabled people, and LGBTQ+ people. Orban has persecuted a majority of these populations in Hungary:

1) Roma & Immigrants

Romani people have been discriminated against in healthcare, education, and employment.
People from Serbia or Ukraine can’t seek asylum in Hungary.
Asylum seekers - including youth, are unlawfully detained.
Pro-Roma protests have been met with violence, and these hate crimes are not taken seriously by Fidesz.
- Organizations who protest xenophobia have been censored and attacked.
Similar to the US, immigrants have been caged, deprived of food and water, and denied citizenship.
- This may be to force the immigrants out of their country by making it intolerable for them.

2) LGBTQ+ people

Orbán’s regime introduced a bill excluding trans women from a women-only pension plan.
Orbán’s regime censors LGBTQ+ related media, such as the British book and TV series Heartstopper.
- These are considered “homosexual propaganda.”
Orbán has imposed “Child protection laws” against minors viewing LGBTQ+ content.
- A museum exhibit with images of gender non-conforming people didn’t allow anyone below 18 to enter.
Orbán has banned legal gender marker changes.

3) Women and reproductive rights

Abortion access has been restricted; people in need of abortions must listen to the “fetal heartbeat.”
- Women's rights are “family affairs” and are determined by government policy.
There are not many female political figures in Hungary.
Women are paid to have children in Hungary.

This oppression and censorship is probably starting to look more and more familiar to Americans. In Hungary, activist communities, such as teachers, have been fighting back. In March 2022, teachers protested poor working conditions and low salaries; going on strike for two days. Instead of listening to their pleas, Orbán passed a new law restricting their right to protest and increasing their hours and workloads. Later, his regime used tear gas on teenage protesters.

The shift toward right wing authoritarianism is a global trend, and poses a threat to trans-Atlantic security. What can be done about this trend? We could expand our democracy initiatives and reinforce anti-corruption efforts around the world, although this effort is proving to be challenging with the attack on dissent and ignorance of sanctions inherent to this flavor of authoritarianism. It may therefore be up to the European Union and NATO, which Hungary is technically still a member of, to maintain their alliances with Hungary but speak out and continue enforcing sanctions. NATO has already started to address security threats and potential human rights breaches, and can do so by fighting for democracy. If NATO and the EU maintain tight alliances, foreign forces can advocate for the human rights and their defenders that are under attack in Hungary.

Glossary

Abortion: A medical procedure that rids the zygote or embryo from the human body
Admiration: Like, appreciation, agreement of something or someone
Alliance: A union or joint agreement that is good for both participants
Alignment: Something becomes or is the same as or similar to something else
Asylum: A safe place to escape to when things are bad
Authoritarian: A way of leading that involves lots of rules and little freedom
Censor: To hide something because you believe it’s bad
Christian Nationalist: A belief that one’s nation should have joint church and state and those who aren’t Christians should have less rights or power
Communist: A belief system created by Karl Marx that puts power into the hands of the working class
Condemn: To express disapproval or dislike of
Corruption: Those in power keeping themselves in power through dishonesty, manipulation, and unjust practices
Defeat: To make something or someone else lose
Denied: Not given to someone or something
Deprived: To deny someone the possession or use of something, usually something important
Dissent: To express disapproval of
Election fraud: Winning an election (a contest for leadership) in a way that doesn’t align with democratic voting or the constitution
Emulate: To copy.
Enforce: To make sure something doesn’t change or that something is followed.
Equivalency: One thing is the same as or similar to something else
Eugenicist: Believing that those with desirable traits should reproduce and those that don’t should die out, often combined with racism, anti-semitism, ableism, etc.
Exert: To use with force
Exclude: To leave out of something
Fascist: A far right, authoritarian way of ruling that involves corruption, oppression, etc.
Homosexual: A person who is romantically and/or sexually interested in someone only of the same gender as themselves
Inherent: Structurally a part of, goes without saying
Intolerable: Unable to stand or live under certain conditions
Liberal: Left-wing, characterized by social liberation
Oppression: Occurs when people's rights or freedoms are taken away, and hate towards them increases
Pension: Paid out to someone when they retire
Persecution: Very similar to “oppression”
Propaganda: Used to make people believe in falsehoods
Protests: Happen when people organize to fight against a certain thing
Regime: A form of government or social system
Retaliate: To do something negative to someone who has done something to you
Salaries: Money paid to someone by their employer
Sanctions: An action taken against a country to hurt their economy as a consequence, or negative impact in response to their actions
Seizing: Taking with force
Subsequent: Something following or happening as a result of something else
Transwoman: A woman who was assigned male at birth
Violations: To disrespect or go against a person, place or thing
Vote tampering: To mess with votes to make an election “fraudulent”
White supremacists: People who believe that only White people should exist, and/or that they should oppress people of color
Withhold: To not give something to someone
Xenophobic: Anti-immigrant, or anti-people from other countries. Often related to but different from racism

Sources

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Hungary Under Viktor Orbán: A Domino in The Global Fall of Democracy

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