Intellectuals and Experts in Historic Storm: The Illiberal Seduction
- Conference of the Hungarian Europe Society -

REGISTRATION

Venue: Central European University, Budapest, 1051 Nádor utca 13., room 516/A
Date: 15 May 2026, Friday

The twentieth century has brought extreme left-wing and right-wing totalitarian regimes to life, but liberal democratic ideas seemed to win over unhuman radicalism and fundamentalism at the turning point in 1989 in Europe. Nevertheless, this miraculous year was not the “end of history”. Since then, anti-liberal, illiberal, populist worldviews and their current messianic or opportunistic representatives have gained ground with fresh and dangerous political agendas even within the European Union. Public support to hybrid or openly authoritarian political regimes has grown globally. Just like in previous historic times, the conflict between the protagonists of liberal democracy and their nay-sayers is not only a partisan competition in the national and supranational political arenas and discourse. This clash is based on a fundamental differentiation of current philosophical/ideological concepts and norms elaborated in today’s intellectual, academic and media spheres.

We would like to focus on issues of how and why intellectuals and experts have served the dreams of Viktor Orbán and like-minded politicians in other EU member states and beyond about a radical illiberal transformation of politics and society. On the other hand, a lot of public actors and groups have refused to legitimise the objectives of the Prime Minister of Hungary resisting and unmasking his long-lasting rule and dominance. On 12 April 2026 his hybrid regime finally collapsed at a historic parliamentary election that was celebrated in a carnival mood on the streets of Budapest.

Our international conference on the past and present roles of intellectuals and influencers is also supposed to help in finding ideological crutches and pragmatic arguments for the supporters of liberal democracy and its universal values.

Program:

13.00 Registration

13.30 – 13.40 Welcome

13.40 – 15.30 First Session: Nationalism, Illiberalism, Extremism in Europe

Moderator: Erik Uszkiewicz (vice-chairperson, Hungarian Europe Society, Budapest)

- Paul Hockenos (writer and political analyst, Berlin): How Ukraine’s Civic Uprising Squashed the Far Right

- Jessie Barton Hronešová (lecturer in political sociology, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London): Genealogy of Serbian Victimhood and Nationalism

- Wojciech Maziarski (publicist, Warsaw): The Secret of Conversion to Liberal Democracy. The Case of Roman Giertych

- Valentin Behr (CNRS research fellow, Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University): The Illiberal Seduction Seen from France: Conservative Intellectuals and the Unification of the Right

15.30 – 16.00 Coffee Break

16.00 – 18.00 Second Session: Hungarians Under Regime Pressure

Moderator: István Hegedűs (chairman, Hungarian Europe Society, Budapest)

- Péter Csunderlik (assistant professor, Eötvös Loránd University; research fellow, Institute of Political History, Budapest): Péter Hanák - A Central European Historian in the 20th Century

- András Vágvölgyi (writer/ filmmaker, Budapest): Colliding Development: István Eörsi and Mária Schmidt

- Dóra Ónody-Molnár (journalist; member of the Hungarian Europe Society, Budapest): The System of National Cooperation and the Journalists

- Miklós Haraszti (writer, former OSCE Media Freedom Representative, Budapest): It's the Media, Stupid!

- Veronika Kövesdi (research fellow, Institute for Political Science, Centre for Social Sciences; assistant professor, Department of Media and Communication, ELTE, Budapest): Experts of Illiberal Manipulation - From Wermer to Finkelstein to Rogán

18.00 Final Remarks

The event and the forthcoming publication have been supported by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation Central Europe.