BREAKING DOWN DEMOCRACY: Goals, Strategies, and Methods of Modern Authoritarians Third, he signaled his support for majoritarianism, whose chair and members were Fidesz loyalists. with its disdain for checks and balances and civil The authority was given wide-ranging powers to society, as opposed to the values of pluralism that are fine media outlets.® enshrined in liberal democratic practice. While the measures listed above were some of the most The message here is important. For many, illiberalism’s notorious of the Fidesz initiatives, in some cases draw- defining feature is intolerance toward minority groups: ing critical attention from European oversight bodies, the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) they represent only part of the campaign that has trans- community, Roma, Muslims, refugees and migrants formed Hungary into a full-fledged illiberal democracy. of all sorts. But in Hungary and elsewhere, illiberal government signifies something much more compre- Perhaps the more far-reaching measures introduced hensive than the prime minister asserting that “every under Orban have been in the economic sphere. Since single migrant poses a public security and terror risk," 2010, Hungary has evolved into a crony capitalist state and that refugees bring “gangs hunting down our par excellence. But unlike in outright kleptocracies women and daughters”*—two of Orban's more incen- such as Russia, where the regime itself is organized diary declarations. around the plunder of public wealth by the ruling clique, Orban has used state laws and procurement The Hungarian leader is instead telling us that illiberal- contracts to create a wealthy Fidesz-affiliated business ism involves a wholesale rejection of liberal values and constituency that can finance political campaigns, re- democratic norms, with all that this implies for politics ward party supporters, and operate friendly media out- and governance. Fidesz’'s “reform” efforts have been less lets. The enrichmen