Synopses & Reviews
This book contends that liberalization is troubled in new Europe. It investigates Hungary to depict the disaggregate nature of liberalization due to elitism and the prioritization of economic liberalization. Despite favorable circumstances in Hungary after 1989, the proponents of liberalism lost credibility and failed to convince the public of the advantages of progressive politics and Europeanization. In reaction, conservative populist politics now disparages the achievements of both liberalization and Europeanization. Finally, the global economic crisis demonstrates the demise of economic liberalization and puts political liberalization in peril.
Review
"For scholars, this book will prove to be a tremendous resource on Hungarian politics over the past twenty years—probably the best book to date." - Slavic Review, Vol. 72, No. 4, Winter 2013
"Korkut's careful case study of the challenges of liberalization in a transitioning democracy, in this case Hungary, illustrates exactly how and why detailed examination and attention to historical legacies and national specificity is absolutely necessary to the wider literature on democratization. His bleak and central contention - that democratization and liberalization do not necessarily cohere and may indeed undermine one another if they fail to generate mutually beneficial conditions for existence - will generate sober reflection on the part of political scientists, historians, and policymakers alike. For this reason, this is much more than a book about the Hungarian experience; it functions as an elegantly reasoned wake-up call to all concerned about how political liberalism has been democratically undermined in 21st century polities coping with economic crisis, rising inequality, ethnic tension, and nationalist populism, and how democracies in turn have been eroded by neoliberal prescriptions for economic growth and stability." - Barbara J. Falk, associate professor, Canadian Forces College
"Since 2010, politics in Hungary has lurched in an alarming and reactionary direction. Korkut (Glasgow Caledonian University, UK) analyzes the reasons for the failure of liberalism in what had formerly been the socialist bloc. Economic liberalization ran ahead of true political liberalization…Neoliberalism provided a moral justification for the rule of a narrow elite of intellectuals turned politicians . . . The book includes chapters on the party programs after 1990, the history of liberal thought in Hungary, and the discursive strategies of liberal leaders and conservatives." – Choice
Review
"Korkut's careful case study of the challenges of liberalization in a transitioning democracy, in this case Hungary, illustrates exactly how and why detailed examination and attention to historical legacies and national specificity is absolutely necessary to the wider literature on democratization. His bleak and central contention - that democratization and liberalization do not necessarily cohere and may indeed undermine one another if they fail to generate mutually beneficial conditions for existence - will generate sober reflection on the part of political scientists, historians, and policymakers alike. For this reason, this is much more than a book about the Hungarian experience; it functions as an elegantly reasoned wake-up call to all concerned about how political liberalism has been democratically undermined in 21st century polities coping with economic crisis, rising inequality, ethnic tension, and nationalist populism, and how democracies in turn have been eroded by neoliberal prescriptions for economic growth and stability." - Barbara J. Falk, associate professor, Canadian Forces College
"Since 2010, politics in Hungary has lurched in an alarming and reactionary direction. Korkut (Glasgow Caledonian University, UK) analyzes the reasons for the failure of liberalism in what had formerly been the socialist bloc. Economic liberalization ran ahead of true political liberalization…Neoliberalism provided a moral justification for the rule of a narrow elite of intellectuals turned politicians . . . The book includes chapters on the party programs after 1990, the history of liberal thought in Hungary, and the discursive strategies of liberal leaders and conservatives." - Choice
Synopsis
In Hungary, as in all of "new Europe," liberalization is troubled. Using Hungary as an in-depth case study, Korkut demonstrates that, in squandering popular goodwill, credibility, and favorable circumstances after 1989, liberal politicians have found themselves vulnerable to conservative populist politics and the global economic crisis.
Synopsis
An examination of the problem of liberalization in Hungary, this book explores two related research questions: why has the course of political liberalization in the Central and Eastern European states failed to construct an organic link between democratic institutions and the public? How has the economic liberalization narrative of the liberalizing elite excluded the public? To answer these questions, the book investigates the conditions under which post-accession liberalization comes to a halt in countries once praised for their pace of reform, and places Hungary in context among states such as Poland, Slovenia, and Slovakia.
About the Author
Umut Korkut is a lecturer at Glasgow School for Business and Society. He received his PhD from the Central European University in Budapest in 2004. The Turkish High Education Council awarded him "Doçent" status in 2009. His most recent publications include "Political Religion and Politicized Women in Turkey: Hegemonic Republicanism Revisited" in Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions (co-authored with Hande Eslen-Ziya, 2010); "More Reform, Less Action: Dilemmas of Economic Europeanization in Hungary" in Problems of Post-Communism (2010); and "Reversing the Wave: The Perverse Effects of Economic Liberalism on Human Rights in Poland" in Czech Sociological Review (2009). Currently, he is working on a new project investigating the construction of gender, family, and population issues in mosque sermons in Turkey.
Table of Contents
Part I: Hungary: An unlikely victim of troubled liberalization * What is liberalization and why does it matter? * Why Hungary? * Part II: The Distance Hypothesis: Explaining the impact of liberalization without participation * How did Hungary become a case for liberalization troubles? * Why does liberalization alienate the public? * Part III: The Exclusion Hypothesis: Explaining the prominence of neo-liberal narrative in implementing institutional change * From liberalism to neo-liberalism * Conservative responses to exclusionary liberalization * Part IV: Liberalization troubles and the Quality of Democracy: What have we learnt?