Ian Dunt@iandunt
Hungary is a nationalist authoritarian state which has almost eradicated the independent press and made fair elections near-impossible. Tim Montgomerie says it exhibits "interesting early thinking on the limits of liberalism"
This was always the danger with Brexit. Not just the policy itself, but the way its victory would unleash some of the worst instincts in British politics. Now it is happening.
The Danube Institute, where he made these comments, is not a real think tank. It is de-facto controlled by Fidesz, part of a society wide infastructure intended to eradicate independent thought.
'Illiberal democracy'
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illiberal_democracy
^
An illiberal democracy, also called a partial democracy, low intensity democracy, empty democracy, hybrid regime or guided democracy, is a governing system in which although elections take place, citizens are cut off from knowledge about the activities of those who exercise real power because of the lack of civil liberties; thus it is not an "open society". There are many countries "that are categorized as neither 'free' nor 'not free', but as 'probably free', falling somewhere between democratic and nondemocratic regimes". This may be because a constitution limiting government powers exists, but those in power ignore its liberties, or because an adequate legal constitutional framework of liberties does not exist
And
Orbán listed Singapore, Russia, Turkey, and China as examples of “successful” nations, “none of which is liberal and some of which aren’t even democracies.”
The Russian Federation under Vladimir Putin has also been described as an illiberal democracy. Elections take place regularly, but many foreign observers (e.g. from the OSCE) do not consider them free or fair. The rate at which journalists have been murdered in Russia shows the limits of freedom of speech; most major television networks and newspapers are state-owned or influenced by the government and openly support parties that support the government during elections. Russia had also moved towards a period of democracy in the early 1990s, but whilst elections remain in place, state control of media is increasing and opposition is difficult.
A classic example of an illiberal democracy is Singapore. During the leadership of Lee Kwan Yew, Singapore acquired full independence, first from Britain and then from Malaysia in the 1960s. At that time, it was structured as a relatively liberal democracy, albeit with some internal security laws that allowed for detention without trial. Over time, as Singapore's ruling People's Action Party government consolidated power in the 1960s and 1970s, it enacted a number of laws and policies that curtailed constitutional freedoms (such as the right to assemble or form associations), and extended its influence over the media, unions, NGOs and academia.[citation needed] Consequently, although technically free and fair multi-party elections are regularly conducted, the political realities in Singapore (including fear and self-censorship) make participation in opposition politics extremely difficult, leaving the dominant ruling party as the only credible option at the polls.
Johnson wanted us to be more like Singapore.
Rights? What are those?
And this is where we are. Who would have predicted it.
No one could have. Apart from those of us who did.