That's the title of an article on the attempted nationalist takeover of the state in Hungary in the Guardian, published yesterday afternoon but which I did not read before I wrote my blog on the same theme yesterday.
I recommend the Guardian article. It suggests there's hope in the opposition in Hungary.
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There’s been a lot on this on Krugman’s blog in December and January: ‘The Unconstitutional Constitution’, ‘Hungarian Diplomatic Protest’, ‘Hungary in the News’, ‘More Hungary’, and ‘Hungary’s Constitutional Revolution’. There is just too much to read these days, but the postings around the turn on the year involve an exchange between Hungary’s ambassador to the US and one of Krugman’s colleagues at Princeton, which Krugman has then reprinted.
Reading this, and holding in mind the vigorous grass-roots opposition in Greece, the likely growth of such opposition in Spain and Portugal (interestingly enough, all of which countries emerged from dictatorship in 1974-5!), along with the now world-wide Occupy events and movements, plus the Con-Dem’s own rush to tear down our constitutional freedoms (could anyone ever have imagined we would need to have a 66% vote to dissolve Parliament?), I cannot help feeling that we are about to see a re-run of the upheavals of 1848, since the new Barons are leaving us few options other than increasingly active dissent and potentially violent opposition.
This time, let us hope and pray that the reactionaries lose, as is clearly the hope of Esther Kinsky, the author of this interesting article.
I think you may be right about the 1848 analogy
The analogy of the early 1930s or even the late 1940s seem stronger to me – a divided Europe: crumbling democracies in the west and fascistic or nationalistic states in the east. Hope we’re wrong.
I am afraid I am not so far persuaded by this characterisation of the Hungarian crisis. There are certainly nationlist and authoritarian elements in the new constitution and it is to be regretted. But it is a (centre) right party so what would one expect. The preamble to the constitution is worrying: but as for Krugman and Scheppele’s analysis: well ….
http://thosebigwords.forumcommunity.net/?t=49401491#lastpost
And although I certainly do not accept the need for independent central banks I think the argument that this is just taking political control of the banks back is very convenient political cover
I do not argue that, Mr Murphy. I argue that the issues are conflated and that the threat to democracy, if it exists, cannot be supported by an appeal to the supremacy of undemocratic prescriptions such as are promoted by the neoclassical economists. They don’t seem to see there is a difference: I do