Dismantling Democracy: Lessons from Hungary's Viktor Orban

Published April 21, 2025 at 10:25 AM EDT

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban delivers a speech in 2019 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Laszlo Balogh/Getty Images)

Viktor Orban is in his fourth consecutive term as Prime Minister of Hungary. In that time, he has dismantled democratic checks and balances, taken control of the country's media, civil society and universities, and consolidated power in him and his Fidesz party.

NPR's Rob Schmitz looks at how Orban's step-by-step dismantling of Hungary's democracy has become a point of fascination for political scientists around the world, including those advising the Trump administration.

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