It was a pretty successful event. Not too political, anyone with true political passions must have been in one of the political gatherings which were taking place simultaneously...
Introduction (extract)
...The aim of this talk is in no way to affect the results of the Hungarian general elections, where the second round is just days away on Sunday. Rather than that we hope to provide academic and independent, non-party aligned analysis of the issue of Hungarian politics and elections. One of the interesting things about the Hungarian politics is that it's analysis seems to be a simple extension of the political practice.
At the same time as we maintain that in humanities and social sciences value-free and neutral analysis is a myth and that every time we seek out to analyse something we also bring in our own perspectives – we aim to demonstrate that even critical analysis, whichever our sympathies would be, does not need to be party political.
Furthermore, even Hungarian politics can be interesting as an object of academic enquiry, not merely a source for the media to run stories on.
Elections analysis roundtable: Political polarisation in Hungary
Taking place from the late 1990s, polarisation has been particularly intensive around the election year 2002. By polarisation I mean the bipolar situation in politics, where the two big parties, or coalitions of parties, exist through their common opposition to each other.
This does not mean the distinction between Budapest and the Countryside necessarily – although polarisation in Hungary can be and has been partly articulated also in this way.
One of the symptoms of polarisation is negative campaigning:
What is particular of Hungary, though, is the wide-spread anti-semitic campaigning, mainly targeted against the SZDSZ and the left.
But just this morning I saw a TV commercial of the MSZP. It depicts Viktor Orbán saying in the TV-debate against Gyurcsányi prior to the first round that he voted for the 13th month pension scheme, but the facts show that he didn't: Orbán lied – vote for the MSZP!
Polarisation can be broken down through creating or emphasising new political frontiers. The 2006 elections, with the emergence of a rift between MDF and Fidesz, has been breaking down the polarisation.
It is possible that the new four-party parliament manages to create a range of political frontiers instead of emphasising a single one, for instance through political alliances that would be changing depending on the debate in question. This process of forming alliances contingent to the issue is something that I find crucial for a functioning democracy.
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