Book Launch - Péter Farkas Zárug & Gábor Török: The Orbán Era - Outline of an Absolute Republic

L’Harmattan Publishing warmly invites you to the launch event for The Orbán Era – Outline of an Absolute Republic by Péter Farkas Zárug and Gábor Török.

The authors will be joined in conversation by political scientist Ervin Csizmadia.

What happens when a political actor not only governs a country, but shapes an era and builds a distinct model of statehood?

The Orbán Era is neither a simple political portrait nor a conventional description of a political system. It is an attempt by two contemporary political scientists to understand, from a historical perspective, how a competitive politician could first become dominant, then hegemonic: first within his party, later within the state entrusted to his governance, ultimately creating the unique political order the authors describe as an “absolute republic.”

The book argues that Hungarian politics over recent decades is not a story of linear development, but rather a network of contingent events, decisions, and competing interests, within which one actor gradually managed to transform his own logic of power into an institutional order.

In this interpretation, the “absolute republic” is a state and legal regime in which sovereignty formally derives from democratic sources, while institutional constraints gradually weaken and constitutional barriers are repeatedly broken down to ensure the uninterrupted exercise of power.

The book does not deliver a normative judgment on the Orbán era, but instead offers a framework for interpreting it. It examines its origins, the internal logic of its operation, and the conditions under which it could persist, transform, or encounter serious competition.

The authors argue that understanding Hungarian politics between 2010 and 2026 requires understanding the unique structure of the Orbán era itself.

About the authors:

Péter Farkas Zárug
Political scientist and associate professor at the Institute of Applied Social Sciences of the University of Miskolc. Campaign and communications expert. He wrote his doctoral dissertation on political speech and its discursive environment. Author or co-author of six books. His research focuses on the political transition after the regime change and, since 2010, the nature and world of Orbán-era politics. He is also a regular political analyst on Hungarian news and commentary programs.

Gábor Török
Historian and political scientist, associate professor at the Faculty of Law of Eötvös Loránd University. As a political and strategic analyst, his research focuses on Hungarian political life after the democratic transition. He wrote his doctoral dissertation on political agenda-setting. Author, co-author, or editor of eight books, including two university textbooks widely used throughout Hungary.

The book will be available for purchase at a discounted price at the venue.

Free event!

(The language of the discussion, also of the book will be Hungarian.)