The effects of civil disobedience in Orbán’s Hungary

This article studies two civil disobedience campaigns directed at the Fidesz government that controlled Hungary from 2010 to 2026. Representing two different kinds of civil disobedience, they both failed to deliver their immediate intended effects of changing or moderating the populist government’s illiberal policies and practices. The latter was due to the control the government held over the media, the legislature, and the courts, and its ability to react decisively to the challenges of civilly disobedient citizens and reinforce its illiberal policies and practices instead of yielding to the pressure. Short term, the campaigns thus produced perverse effects compared to those intended. Long-term, they may have had positive effects. Through the collective experience of diverse social resistance spanning several decades, they contributed to the reinforcement of the self-respect of the opposition and increased its learning and its organisational capacity.