HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019273.jpg

Freedom House

to economic mismanagement and political dishones-
ty. It was devastated by the 2010 election results, and
has failed to reemerge as a viable opposition entity. In
Poland, the center-right Civic Platform had been the
dominant force until the 2015 PiS victory. It achieved
economic success and gained respect in Brussels,
but lost the support of the working class, the provinc-
es, and all those who felt bypassed by globalization.
Similarly, the elitist secular parties that had ruled
Turkey for most of the 20th century were swept aside
by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development
Party, which appealed to a rising Islamist middle class.
And in Venezuela, it took only a few years in power
for Hugo Chávez to win over the country’s poor and
marginalize the conservative mainstream parties that
had led the country for decades.

A second precondition for the emergence of illiberal re-
gimes is a fundamental weakness in democratic institu-
tions beyond the political sphere, including the media,
civil society, anticorruption agencies, and the judiciary.
In many newer democracies, these checks and balanc-

es remain fragile: It is widely assumed that whoever
controls the parliament will also come to dominate the
judiciary and the security services, and the media are
vulnerable to intimidation or partisan capture.

Illiberalism seems less likely to gain traction in the
United States because the courts, for example, are
proudly independent, and freedom of the press is firm-
ly protected by statute and constitutional jurispru-
dence. But if illiberal forces have sufficient political
will and the defenders of democratic institutions lack
conviction and public support, anything is possible.
Polls have shown that popular faith in Congress and
the Supreme Court are at historic lows. A growing
number of Americans question the effectiveness of
representative democracy and ask whether it would
be better to let the president make decisions unen-
cumbered by the legislative branch. An astonishing
one in six Americans believe it would be acceptable
to have the army rule. And with each passing genera-
tion, a smaller share of U.S. citizens believe that living
under a democracy is important.25

1. “Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Speech at the 25th Bálványos Summer Free University and Student Camp,” Website of the Hungari-
an Government, July 26, 2014, http://www.kormany.hu/en/the-prime-minister/the-prime-minister-s-speeches/prime-minister-vik-
tor-orban-s-speech-at-the-25th-balvanyos-summer-free-university-and-student-camp.
2. “Speech by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on 15 March,” Website of the Hungarian Government, March 16, 2016, http://www.korma-
ny.hu/en/the-prime-minister/the-prime-minister-s-speeches/speech-by-prime-minister-viktor-orban-on-15-march.
3. Cynthia Kroet, “Viktor Orbán: Migrants Are ‘a Poison,’” Politico, July 27, 2016, http://www.politico.eu/article/viktor-orban-mi-
grants-are-a-poison-hungarian-prime-minister-europe-refugee-crisis/.
4. “Speech by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on 15 March,” Website of the Hungarian Government, March 16, 2016, http://www.korma-
ny.hu/en/the-prime-minister/the-prime-minister-s-speeches/speech-by-prime-minister-viktor-orban-on-15-march.
5. See for example “Hungary,” in Freedom in the World 2011 (New York: Freedom House, 2011), https://freedomhouse.org/report/free-
dom-world/2011/hungary.
6. “Hungary,” in Freedom in the World 2015 (New York: Freedom House, 2015), https://freedomhouse.org/report/free-
dom-world/2015/hungary.
7. Ibid.
8. “Hungary,” in Freedom of the Press 2012 (New York: Freedom House, 2012), https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-press/2012/
hungary.
9. “Bálint Magyar’s Latest Book: Post-Communist Mafia State: The Case of Hungary,” Hungarian Spectrum, February 19, 2016, http://
hungarianspectrum.org/2016/02/19/balint-magyars-latest-book-post-communist-mafia-state-the-case-of-hungary/.
10. “Kim Lane Scheppele: Hungary and the State of American Democracy,” Hungarian Spectrum, May 21, 2015, http://hungarianspec-
trum.org/2015/05/21/kim-lane-scheppele-hungary-and-the-state-of-american-democracy/.
11. “Hungary,” in Freedom in the World 2016 (New York: Freedom House, 2016), https://freedomhouse.org/report/free-
dom-world/2016/hungary.
12. Pablo Gorondi, “Hungary Lawmakers Debate Bill Seen Meant to Intimidate NGOs,” Associated Press, April 19, 2017, https://apnews.
com/f70fa05a11fa4ec389d388b1f50aca19.
13. Mitchell A. Orenstein, Péter Krekó, and Attila Juhász. “The Hungarian Putin?” Foreign Affairs, February 8, 2015, https://www.foreig-
naffairs.com/articles/hungary/2015-02-08/hungarian-putin.
14. “Poland: An Inconvenient Truth,” Financial Times, May 1, 2016, https://www.ft.com/content/4344ca44-0b94-11e6-9cd4-2be-
898308be3.
15. Dalibor Rohac, “‘Illiberal Democracy’ Spreads to Poland,” Wall Street Journal, June 9, 2016, http://www.wsj.com/articles/illiberal-de-
mocracy-spreads-to-poland-1465413404.
16. Noah Feldman, “Poland’s New Leaders Take Aim at Democracy,” Bloomberg View, December 31, 2015, https://www.bloomberg.
com/view/articles/2015-12-31/poland-s-new-leaders-take-aim-at-democracy.
17. Alison Smale and Joanna Berendt, “Poland’s Conservative Government Puts Curbs on State TV News,” New York Times, July 3,
2016, http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/04/world/europe/polands-conservative-government-puts-curbs-on-state-tv-news.html.

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