Tisza party wins elections in Hungary, Orbán loses power — The Guardian
The Tisza party won Hungary’s parliamentary elections in April, and Viktor Orbán lost power, The Guardian reports. In June, the new parliament, according to the publication, adopted a constitutional amendment to dismantle the patronage system that had provided funding for the Danube Institute and MCC Brussels.
Budapest hub of post-liberals
The Danube Institute was founded in 2013 using public funds redirected by the Hungarian authorities. The publication describes it as a central hub of the post-liberal movement — an association of conservative thinkers who criticize liberalism, individual autonomy and liberal capitalism.
US right-wing intellectuals and media figures came to Budapest, including Rod Dreher, Tucker Carlson, Patrick Deneen, Christopher Rufo, Yoram Hazony and Gladden Pappin. In 2021, Dreher, who was a fellow at the institute, helped organize Carlson’s week-long trip to Hungary, during which the Fox News host recorded an interview with Orbán.
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In her book Twilight of Democracy, US journalist and historian Anne Applebaum wrote that the Danube Institute effectively exists to make the Hungarian government more acceptable to an external audience. Representatives of the movement, in turn, criticized this approach, saying that it does not explain the causes of liberalism’s crisis.
The movement’s views and the Hungarian model
One of the key texts of the post-liberal movement was philosopher Patrick Deneen’s book Why Liberalism Failed, published in 2018. Its author argued that liberalism failed not because it retreated from its own foundations, but because it consistently implemented the principles of formal equality, progress and individual autonomy.
Supporters of post-liberalism were attracted to Hungary by the authorities’ willingness to use state instruments for conservative social policy. Pappin described this model through a combination of strong families, borders and industry. Since 2022, Hungary has spent about 5% of GDP annually on family support programs, including generous maternity leave, child care assistance and tax benefits for mothers.
