Masking the Strangulation of Opposition Parties as Pandemic Response: Austerity Measures Targeting the Local Level in Hungary

Daniel Kovarek and Gábor Dobos

Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 2023, vol. 16, issue 1, 105-117

Abstract: While a large literature studies the various tools of autocratic survival, targeting opposition actors with austerity measures in electoral autocracies is hitherto understudied. This paper argues that the COVID-19 pandemic has provided a rare opportunity for Hungary’s Fidesz party to disarm opposition parties via cutting off resources of municipalities led by opposition mayors and eliminating any remnants of local governments’ fiscal autonomy. Analysing original data from government decrees on local transfers, this study contributes to the existing literature by conceptualising fiscal strangulation as part of electoral authoritarian regimes’ toolbox to discredit opposition parties and their ability to govern locally.

Keywords: austerity; critical juncture; electoral autocracies; fiscal strangulation; autocratic survival; local governments (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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