Ungarn seit 1989: Ein Systemwechsel mit Schwächen
Hungary since 1989: A Change of System and Its Weak Points

Summary/Abstract: The paper explores the Hungarian system change in 1989. Contrasting the events with Poland, it seeks to find elements of the present political cleavages in a lack of symbolical power. Of equal importance is the fact that during the negotiations at the Round Table, the Hungarian communist party had already surrendered its power, so that the cleavages between the opposition parties already became visible. During the following elections, the voters experienced democracy as a power struggle among competing democratic parties, rather than as the downfall of communism. The leftist-liberal coalition in 1994 reshaped the political landscape and cemented the cleavages which haunt the Hungarian political system until the present day.

• Details
• Contents