Hungary

Seven years on, the 16+1 project has largely flopped.

A political newcomer is poised to become president by standing up for liberal democratic values—and seeking to halt the spread of right-wing populism across Central and Eastern Europe.

Recent spats aside, Israel’s right-wing government sees the illiberal nationalist leaders of Poland and Hungary as natural allies. They share a hostility toward human rights, Enlightenment values, and the European Union.

The question looms large during Pompeo’s visit to Central Europe.

Shunning populist parties won’t make Jews safer. Engaging with them is a matter of realpolitik, and Israel should focus on contemporary threats, not those of the past.

On the podcast: What it’s like to be a journalist in Orban’s Hungary.

The country’s youngest party has united the left and right against Viktor Orban.

With larger powers in retreat, small countries and civil society groups have stepped up—and they have won some significant victories.

Yoram Hazony's work provides a global scaffolding for the new far-right.

The Turkish president’s racist conspiracy theories are a threat to economic stability.

Israeli government officials are helping to normalize the violent anti-Semitism of the Christian right.

As the European Union takes long overdue measures to punish the Hungarian regime, the prime minister appears to be moving from rhetorical to real repression.

The European Parliament needs to start condemning Orban for the right reasons.

Steve Bannon is trying to sell Trumpism to Eastern Europeans—but shared ideologies die hard when they run into economic and military realities.

Matteo Salvini wants to be buddies with anti-immigrant leaders in Hungary, Poland, and Austria. But sometimes geography trumps ideology.

The war against foreign-funded NGOs — from India to Israel — is harming democratic governance, not enhancing it.

As left-wing parties have collapsed, the sole option remaining for voters is conservatism or right-wing populism.

Hungary’s leader used fearmongering propaganda to win. As he entrenches his power, the country’s democratic backsliding will get even worse.

Viktor Orban may have won, but a narrow loss in the countryside suggests that corruption could one day be his undoing.

The Jobbik party, once known for its overt racism and anti-Semitism, is trying to reinvent itself as the responsible voice of the center.