Orbán

IN CO-OPERATION WITH BOOK VIENNA 2025

Cathrin Kahlweit in conversation with Stefano Bottoni

ORBÁN
From village footballer to global role model for the illiberals

How did Hungary, the former model pupil of the Eastern European transition countries after 1989, become the country it is today with its illiberal National Co-operation System? What deep-seated social developments and roots propelled a football-loving boy from the Hungarian provinces to the top of the country? How has Viktor Orbán managed to shape and steer the destiny of his country for over three decades now? And what are the chances that he and his system of government will be replaced in next year's elections? These and other historical and political questions are answered in the book by Italian historian Stefano Bottoni, who will be present to present his book.

The historian Stefano Bottoni is a lecturer at the University of Florence. Between 2009 and 2019, he worked at the Institute of History of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and cooperated in various international projects with renowned European institutions. He specialises in the history of interethnic relations and nation-building under communism in Eastern Europe. For several years he has been analysing the crisis of post-communist democracy in Hungary from a comparative perspective.

Cathrin Kahlweit, SZ correspondent for many years, is a publicist and presenter.