Essays & Analysis
Longer essays and analysis from The Hungary Report.
This section follows Hungary, Orbánism, democratic repair, European politics, authoritarian technique, and the countries still trying to understand what Hungary became under Fidesz.
The pieces collected here focus on the structure behind the daily noise: law, money, institutions, parties, propaganda, foreign alliances, minority rights, public media, and the political habits that remain after a government changes.
Hungary is often treated abroad as a warning label. These essays follow the specifics: who signed what, who kept which office, where the money went, what the law now says, and how a state begins the work of becoming usable again.
After Orbán
Viktor Orbán Lost Power. Has Anyone Told Him?
Snap Analysis: The Transition Enters the Law
Hungary’s Probationary Return to Europe
The Symbolism of Democratic Repair
Learning How to See Power Again
The First Outline of Power After Orbán
Hungary After Orbán: What Comes Next for Europe?
Orbánism and state capture
Hungary After Dark: What the Old State Wrote Down
Blueprints of Control: How Orbán Reframed Family and Gender in Hungary
The Five Illusions That Kept Orbán in Power
How Orbán Bends Democracy and Why Authoritarians Watch
Hungary’s Real Enemy Is the System Orbán Built
The Cost of Corruption: Orbán’s Hungary and the EU
Inside Orbán’s Digital Messaging Strategy Before Hungary’s 2026 Election
Hungary and Europe
The Audition to Become Europe’s Next Orbán
Spain Is a Country I Love Deeply. That Is Why Vox Terrifies Me.
The Etiquette of Appeasing Trump
Europe Was a Road, Then a Classroom, Then a Home
Opinion: The End of Europe’s U.S. Illusion
Why the Kremlin Cannot Afford to Lose Its Man in the EU
The Election Machine Beyond Hungary’s Borders
Spain Draws a Line, and Europe’s Sovereignty Question Comes Into Focus
Peace in Theory, War in Practice: The Board of Peace
Personal and political essays
I Left Hungary as a Child. I Want to Go Home.
I Knew It Was Wrong Before I Had the Courage to Say So
A Fever in a Historic Heatwave