Fleck Zoltán – Kovács Ágnes – Körtvélyesi Zsolt – Mészáros Gábor – Polyák Gábor – Sólyom Péter: The Changes Undermining the Functioning of a Constitutional Democracy
2022/9
This paper reviews the changes that relate to institutions that play a central role in maintaining a functioning democracy. The chapters document how these institutions and areas where, one by one, transformed to undermine constitutionalism and democracy, subjecting them to a political logic that ended up undermining the autonomies that are essential to fulfil their constitutional and democratic mission. Chapter 1 discusses how essential features of parliamentarism disappeared, chapter 2 overviews the misuse of exceptional measures, and chapter 3 takes a brief look at how the independence of the judiciary has been challenged. Chapter 4 and 5 document key developments that transformed the fields of academia and media, areas that could have played an important role in checking power through public discussions.
The full series: The Crisis of the Rule of Law, Democracy and Fundamental Rights in Hungary (Paper I: 2022/4) – Tactics Against Criticism of Autocratization. The Hungarian Government and the EU’s Prolonged Toleration (Paper II: 2022/5) – Inventing Constitutional Identity in Hungary (Paper III: 2022/6) – The Hungarian Constitutional Court and the Abusive Constitutionalism (Paper IV: 2022/7) – Is the EU Toothless? An Assessment of the Rule of Law Enforcement Toolkit (Paper V: 2022/8) – The CJEU and the ECtHR – High Hopes or Wishful Thinking? (Paper VI: forthcoming) – The Changes Undermining the Functioning of a Constitutional Democracy (Paper VII: 2022/9)