What makes or Breaks a Democracy

Why? Is it because of the emergence of populist leaders? Rising inequalities? The spread of illiberalism? Social media? Identity politics? This book investigates the potential causes while focusing on a peculiar case. Hungary-a country in East Central Europe-has been unique in exhibiting a quick and thorough democratization in 1989-1990, and then, after two decades, an opposite sequence that turned it into an electoral autocracy. This book evaluates potential factors by analyzing the post-1989 Hungarian trajectory and comparing it to other countries of the region. If Hungarian culture is unfit for democracy, how did it not hamper democratization after 1989? If the constitutional setup helped autocratization, was that really so different in neighboring countries? Did Budapest mismanage the economy? Is Viktor Orbán unique? The findings lead to universal lessons on how to build and protect democracy.