Democratic Emergency - Autocratic side effects of the pandemic

“The time during the pandemic has really been melting and has become relative. However, we should not let the rule of law and our democratic standards suffer the same fate.” 

The Covid-19 pandemic has been a significant weakening not only of the human health, but also of democratic processes and the functioning of state institutions. State of emergencies have been misused in certain countries to make changes, the nature of which is in conflict with the upholding of the rule of law and the functioning of check and balances in a democratic environment. How is it possible to reverse these developments of cumulation of power and the creation of structural non-pluralism? 

Focusing on the example of Hungary the episode describes how the Hungarian government used the pretext of health threat to implement its ideology-based policy of the ruling party Fidesz. 

Daniel Martínek discusses with Zsuzsanna Végh the autocratic side effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and how to cure them. 

Zsuzsanna Végh is Research Fellow at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder) and Associate Researcher at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) focusing on, amongst others, Hungarian EU and foreign policy as well as on democratization and regional cooperation in Central Europe. 

Artwork recommended by the guest: The Persistence of Memory, Salvador Dalí, 1931.  

CEE – Central Europe Explained is a podcast series produced by the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe, powered by Erste Group. 

Host: Daniel Martínek, Research Associate at the IDM

Production and editing: Emma Hontebeyrie 

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