The End of History in Hungary

What is going on in Hungary?

Perhaps you didn’t know who Viktor Orban was, or maybe you did but did not know much of anything about Hungarian politics. This may come as a surprise then that this country at the heart of Europe, until the 12th of April 2026, had been ruled as a barony of Europe’s far right Fidesz party and its leader Viktor Orban. Further shocking is the sheer depth of this electoral autocracy’s illiberalism, which had been run into this precarity by those elements of society who held the will to continually change the rules around their hold of political power. In the last elections in 2022, for example, this gerrymander delivered 83% of the districts for Fidesz despite only receiving 53% of the votes and allowed them to hold onto a supermajority in the Parliament^[1].

Perhaps you are more informed of who Orban is, thought him undefeatable in this recent Hungarian parliamentary election, or that such a defeat would only be a marginal one that would see him enjoy political power for a time longer still. Perhaps this will come as a further surprise: these past elections on the 12th of April will forever mark the day that Fidesz finally lost their grip on that power^[2]. That the people delivered a remarkable mandate for change to the opposition, the Tisza party, were rewarded with a supermajority in the Hungarian parliament.

Maybe you think his legacy is irreversible, that even with a supermajority in the parliament and with a crushing mandate to return Hungary to the Liberal Democracy enjoyed by their neighbors there would be some subversion of the people’s will to come. Let us not lose heart. The supermajority they’ve been granted afford them every available tool in Hungary’s legislative arsenal to dispose of the organs of Orban’s illiberal regime and to renovate Hungary’s democracy to bring it in-line with that of its neighbors.

Let us make clear the thesis of this essay: no greater victory could be asked of that election result, any anxiety of what comes next is undoubtedly a trauma response from the past decades of democratic backsliding around the world. You need not be in-tune with the Liberal International Order to see all around us what we once considered to be a steady maintenance of Liberalism’s international dominance has become a battle from challenges both within and without the system.

What is the “End of History” anyways?

Francis Fukuyama articulated as early as 1989 that we had arrived at the End of History ^[3]. This End of History was a final destination for mankind’s iterations upon our political systems, having centered ourselves upon Liberal Democracy; the means by which we would usher in the greatest flourishing for the greatest number of mankind. It was not without future challenges. From the left we face ongoing critique of lingering inequalities, which we must address. On the right we face those with a very human nature to not be content with equality and whose nature demands superiority over others, and on this flank we must defeat them outright.

Fukuyama further argued that, while in some cases these fallen dictatorships, like the Orban government, were not immediately and universally followed-up by Liberal Democracies, these systems never returned to that prior structure of authoritarianism in defeat. Today, we might look to Russia as but one sole exception to that rule, but, even in that, we can see that it holds but a fraction of its former power from the old Russian or Soviet empires^[3].

It is no easy task, but the recent election in Hungary should be internalized in the heart of every liberal in the world, at least as much as we internalized our failure of the American 2024 federal elections. It joins the number of examples across the Western world of a strengthening resolve to rejuvenate and turn the corner on a dark chapter. Canada’s Federal Elections saw a rejection of Poliviere’s populists^[4], while Pro-EU parties held their ground against the far right in Romania, Moldova, and Poland ^[5]. In the United States since 2024, Republicans have won elections surely, but have seen a continuous loss of their vote share ^[6].

In our times these countries stand out as examples of our resilience in the face of illiberal forces, and we hang on with skepticism for tomorrow - not knowing what may come. But history can teach us much, provided we know where to look. Fukuyama looks to the Southern Europeans: Portugal, Spain, Greece, and Turkey - who all at once came to join their fellow Europeans in earnest Liberal Democracy following their respective dictatorships. Also look to the revival of Democracy across much of South America following the conclusion of Operation Condor in countries like Brazil, Argentina, and Chile. These courses were, at the time of their undertaking, uncertain ones which had a long road ahead left to walk ^[3].

Neither was the collapse of the Soviet bloc a guarantee, but the peoples of this prison of nations that was the Warsaw Pact determined for themselves a future which was altogether different than the one constructed by the Communist Parties and Red Armies of their respective regions. We need to embody the bravery found in the actions of Boris Yeltsin, the Solidarity Movement, and of the East Germans to fight with whatever strength we have against the darkness encroaching on our torch of liberty in whatever form illiberalism embodies ^[3].

What is left for us to accomplish?

Yes, it is true that we have lived through a dark time, but this darkness did not benefit those whose support kept the system afloat. The far right rested upon their laurels after their shocking victory in 2024 failing to coordinate with international partners to meaningfully support each other, failing in governance, failing in delivering any material prosperity this system necessarily had to reward (at everyone else’s expense). They supported Russia in burying the most inspiring Liberal Democracy in the 21st century, only to fail in isolating and burying Ukraine through all of 2025. They tried to bury our own system here at home under a legalistic framework of gerrymanders^[7], court packing ^[8], Federal workforce firings ^[9], and in blatant attacks on people's ability to cast a ballot freely or fairly ^[10]. All of this to freeze us out of power, much like what Orban had done in Hungary for the last 16 years. 

It's a playbook that the American far right had bet everything on.

With this election, we have fired a shot across the bow, to be heeded by all Americans - that system of illiberalism, of a legalistic autocracy, failed. It failed there and it will fail here. 

This essay comes at the end of a dark year in my life marked by a pervasive cynicism that infected my relationships, my passions, and my perception of the future. Beginning this year, I made a point to find hope because little did I know it, there was nothing I could muster the strength to accomplish without it. It was my most valuable asset, and the enemies of liberal democracy engage in a campaign to take that out of you from the start which leaves you powerless for all the rest. Let this election, and those to come, bring about your renewed hope.