Fidesz –Hungarian Civic Alliance is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Hungary led by Viktor Orbán.
Central European University is a private research university with campuses in Vienna,Budapest,and New York. The university offers intensive graduate and undergraduate programs in the social sciences and humanities,and is known for its low student-faculty ratio,and a highly diverse international student body. Admissions are classified as highly selective with an acceptance rate of 13%. All CEU programs and courses are accredited in Austria,Hungary and the United States.
Globalism has multiple meanings. In political science,it is used to describe "attempts to understand all of the interconnections of the modern world—and to highlight patterns that underlie them". While primarily associated with world-systems,it can be used to describe other global trends. The concept of globalism is also classically used to focus on ideologies of globalization instead of its processes;in this sense,"globalism" is to globalization what "nationalism" is to nationality.
Viktor Mihály Orbán is a Hungarian lawyer and politician who has been Prime Minister of Hungary since 2010,previously holding the office from 1998 to 2002. He has led the Fidesz political party since 1993,with a break between 2000 and 2003.
Tibor Fischer is a British novelist and short-story writer. In 1993,he was selected by the literary magazine Granta as one of the 20 best young British writers,while his novel Under the Frog was featured on the Booker Prize shortlist.
Manfred Weber is a German politician who has served as President of the European People's Party (EPP) since 2022 and as Leader of the EPP Group in the European Parliament since 2014. He has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Germany since 2004. He is a member of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU),part of the European People's Party.
George Soros is a Hungarian-American billionaire hedge fund manager and philanthropist. As of October 2023,he had a net worth of US$6.7 billion,having donated more than $32 billion to the Open Society Foundations,of which $15 billion has already been distributed,representing 64% of his original fortune. Forbes called Soros the "most generous giver". He is a resident of New York.
George Eli Birnbaum is an American political consultant. He worked on the United States congressional and senatorial races. In 1998,he moved to Israel to work as a consultant to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,became his chief of staff,and afterwards formed a partnership with political consultant Arthur Finkelstein. He was born in Los Angeles,California and raised in Atlanta,Georgia.
Zoltán Kovács is a Hungarian historian and politician. He is Viktor Orbán's spokesperson and Hungary's international spokesperson.
Andor Nagy is a Hungarian jurist and politician,member of the National Assembly (MP) for Szécsény between 2004 and 2013. He was appointed Hungarian Ambassador to Israel in August 2013. He was accredited as Ambassador of the Republic of Hungary to Austria on 19 September 2018.
Parliamentary elections were held in Hungary on 8 April 2018. The elections were the second since the adoption of a new constitution,which came into force on 1 January 2012. The result was a victory for the Fidesz–KDNP alliance,preserving its two-thirds majority,with Viktor Orbán remaining Prime Minister. Orbán and Fidesz campaigned primarily on the issues of immigration and foreign meddling,and the election was seen as a victory for right-wing populism in Europe.
Democratic backsliding is a process of regime change toward autocracy that makes the exercise of political power by the public more arbitrary and repressive. This process typically restricts the space for public contestation and political participation in the process of government selection. Democratic decline involves the weakening of democratic institutions,such as the peaceful transition of power or free and fair elections,or the violation of individual rights that underpin democracies,especially freedom of expression. Democratic backsliding is the opposite of democratization.
The following lists events that happened during 2018 in Hungary.
The fourth Orbán government was the Government of Hungary from 18 May 2018 to 24 May 2022,after the 2018 parliamentary elections,led by Viktor Orbán.
An election of Members of the European Parliament from Hungary to the European Parliament was held on 26 May 2019,electing the 21 members of the Hungary delegation to the European Parliament as part of the European elections held across the European Union.
Hungarian-American billionaire businessman and philanthropist George Soros's philanthropy and support for progressive causes has made him the subject of many conspiracy theories,most of them originating from the political right. Veronika Bondarenko,writing for Business Insider said:"For two decades,some have seen Soros as a kind of puppet master secretly controlling the global economy and politics." The New York Times describes the allegations as moving "from the dark corners of the internet and talk radio" to "the very center of the political debate" by 2018. Professor Armin Langer has noted that Soros is "the perfect code word" for conspiracy theories that unite antisemitism and Islamophobia.
The Hungarian conservative party Fidesz has been accused of exhibiting anti-democratic and authoritarian tendencies since their return to leading the Hungarian government in 2010 under the leadership of Viktor Orbán in his second premiership. The Fidesz-led government has been accused of severely restricting media freedom,undermining the independence of the courts,subjugating and politicising independent and non-governmental institutions,surveilling political opponents,engaging in electoral engineering,and assailing critical NGOs. The Fidesz-led government has been accused of engaging in cronyism and corruption. Fidesz has been accused of antisemitism,and the Fidesz-led government has been accused of passing legislation that violates the rights of LGBT persons. Due to its controversial actions,Fidesz and its government have come in conflict with the EU on multiple occasions.
Maciej Kisilowski is a Polish academic. He is associate professor in law and strategy at Central European University as well as the faculty director of CEU Executive MBA program. He is an expert on public-sector strategy as well as nonmarket strategy of businesses.
Balázs Trencsényi is a Hungarian historian of East Central European political and cultural thought. He is currently a Professor at the Department of History,Central European University as well as the Co-Director of Pasts,Inc. Center for Historical Studies.
Kornel Klopfstein-Laszlo is a New York-based Hungarian journalist,policy analyst,and human rights advocate. He is the co-founder of Print-it-Yourself,a citizen journalism project combating Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's control over the media. In 2020,Klopfstein joined Open Society Foundations,a grantmaking network founded by George Soros. He also serves as a board member of eDemokracia,a Central European think tank that promotes press freedom,access to information,and participatory democracy.
