Making Peace Visible30 Sep 2025

How Viktor Orbán hacked Hungary’s democracy

Since his election in 2010, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has transitioned Hungary from a democracy into a quasi-authoritarian country, and provided a blueprint for Project 2025 in the United States. Elections, economic policies, and the media have been transformed to benefit Orbán and his far-right Fidesz Party.

Orbán’s government, with its consolidation of executive power, Christian nationalist and anti-LGBTQ policies served as inspiration for Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s plan for Donald Trump’s second term. Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts has called modern Hungary “not just a model for conservative statecraft but the model.”

A new documentary film, Democracy Noir, shows how Orbán changed Hungarian politics. In the words of Budapest-based journalist Babett Oroszi, Orbán has “hacked democracy” – quietly using the levers of democracy, rather than a violent revolution, to accomplish his aims. The film tells the story of modern Hungary through the eyes of three female members of Hungary’s resistance – reporter Oroszi, nurse and activist Niko Antal, and Tímea Szabó, an opposition leader in Hungary’s parliament.

Our guest, director Connie Field, has followed Hungarian politics since the country’s first years as a democracy in the early 1990s. An American progressive and award-winning documentarian, she has a shrewd eye on how Orban’s actions are being mirrored in the United States. The episode also includes discussion of a new leader who observers think has a real chance of upending Orbán’s hold on power in the 2026 election.

LEARN MORE:

Stream Democracy Noir now!

Watch a trailer for the film, find out where it’s being screened, or request a screening

Download the discussion guide.

Connie Field bio

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The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org

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