PAUL LENDVAI
Viktor Orbán rules with an iron fist behind a seemingly democratic curtain. He is transforming a weak but functioning democracy into an authoritarian state. His almost unrestricted
He owes his position of power above all to his personal charisma, his ruthlessness and his instinct for power.
Celebrated as a democratic hope in the 1990s, Orbán is now admired by men like Putin and Erdoğan. He has turned his back on Western, liberal values. His right-wing conservative, populist course leaves plenty of room for xenophobic and anti-Semitic tendencies, while his financial and economic policy ambitions are leading to a split in society: a small layer of benefiting nouveau riche is set against a growing army of poor, unemployed and minimum wage pensioners.
The political opposition is weak and divided, the young urban generation is turning away from politics or emigrating.
Hungary has become a foreign body in democratic Europe.
Paul Lendvai in conversation with Franz Vranitzky
Moderation: Hans Rauscher, journalist
Paul Lendvai, internationally renowned journalist, author and expert on Eastern Europe, wrote for many years as a correspondent for the London Financial Times and respected Austrian, Swiss and German newspapers. He was editor-in-chief of the ORF's Eastern Europe desk from 1982 and director from 1987
of Radio Österreich international. Today he is also co-publisher and editor-in-chief of the international magazine Europäische Rundschau, which he founded, head of ORF's Europe studio and columnist for Der Standard. He has published 16 books, many of them bestsellers and translated into several languages, and has received numerous awards.
Paul Lendvai
Orbán's Hungary
Format 13.5 x 21.5 cm | 240 pages
Hardcover, dust jacket
ISBN 978-3-218-01038-2
€ (A, D) 24,- | K & S
Also available as an e-book