Living dead democracy

Overlapping crises, enforced political passivity, a new political normal: all things that gradually dismantle a democracy. Ferenc Laczó talks the death of democracy in a new episode of Gagarin.

Long standing Eurozine contributor, Ferenc Laczó joins editor-in-chief Réka Kinga Papp to talk about how a democracy can be alive and dead at the same time. With the Hungarian example as backdrop, they describe what democratic disintegration looks like – the early indicators, the pace, and how to identify democratic death threats.

Laczó joined the discussion about how democracies die in the Eurozine focal point ‘The writing on the wall’ with his article ‘How democracies transform, fast and slow’.

Read Ferenc Laczó’s articles in Eurozine, including the debate on the death of democracies discussed in the episode :

This episode is an edited version of a longer conversation, which is available in its entirety only to our Patrons. You can get access to the full episode, and more giveaways by becoming a Patron for as little as €5 a month on Patreon.

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Published 11 August 2023
Original in English

The cherubs of Margaret Bridge are facing the Hungarian Parliament and they don't seem impressed. This was the second permanent bridge on the Danube connecting Buda and Pest, built in the 1870s. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.
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