Ivan Krastev is the chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies, and Albert Hirschman Permanent Fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences, IWM Vienna.
In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Ivan Krastev discuss how Viktor Orbán’s 16-year rule in Hungary came to an end, why democratic institutions proved more resilient than many expected, and what lessons this holds for understanding the ...
The strongest version of this narrative highlights the resilience of democratic institutions, even in the face of significant authoritarian tendencies. Orbán's defeat underscores the limits of competitive authoritarianism, where electoral manipulation and media control can only go so far before voter agency reasserts itself. The election also reveals the paradox of populist rule: once in power, movements that thrive on anti-establishment rhetoric struggle to maintain legitimacy as the establishm...