Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban delivers a speech after his ruling Fidesz-KDNP coalition won the general elections in Budapest, Hungary, on April 8, 2018. He thanked Hungarians for having "saved the country." Attila Volgyi/Press Association. All rights reserved.Viktor Orbán secured his third definitive victory on April 8 in Hungary’s parliamentary elections. Although Hungary was praised a decade ago for being a prime case of successful democratisation and free market reform, now it is another example of liberal institutions sliding towards autocracy.
The fierce anti-migrant hate campaign was the most visible sign of the length to which Orbán was prepared to go to ensure his majority. Since 2010 Orbán has been using the momentum created by popular anger at the failures of liberal policies to build up his own system: authoritarian capitalism. A system that is deeply illiberal but capitalist: private property and the profit logic still dominate, but the state bureaucracy and its institutions are subdued to the enrichment of the preferred national economic elite.
