How Far Can Populist Governments Go? The Impact of the Populist Government on the Hungarian Parliament

Abstract

The article poses the following research questions: to what extent has the populist executive in Hungary affected formal and informal parliamentary powers? To what extent has the relation between the executive and the legislative changed over the three legislative periods of populist government? This article examines change in formal powers but also in the informal practices concerning parliament’s legislative and scrutiny functions. Regarding the time frame, the empirical analysis compares the period when Fidesz was in opposition (2006–2010), with the period when Fidesz has been in government (2010–2020). The article establishes that during 2010–2020, the legislative suffered profound disempowerment that has been attributed to three factors: systemic collapse of democracy in Hungary, weakening formal powers of the legislature and the autocratic features of the Fidesz party. Moreover, the article demonstrates that executive–legislative relations have been dynamic between 2010 and 2020 and concern different formal and informal practices.