GLOSSARY
Illiberal democracy: origin of the term, and why Hungary is no longer the textbook case
Updated August 2, 2026
A government can emerge from free elections and still dismantle, piece by piece, the constraints meant to contain it once in power. This phrase describes exactly that pattern — and it has a precise origin, with a date and a name attached to who claimed it openly.
What it is
A phrase describing a system in which competitive elections coexist with the systematic weakening of liberal constraints on power — the judiciary, the press, the opposition, constitutional checks. The term has a precise origin that should always be cited: coined by political scientist Fareed Zakaria in the essay "The Rise of Illiberal Democracy" (Foreign Affairs, 1997) as a critical category, it was later claimed in a positive sense by Viktor Orbán in a speech at Băile Tușnad (Romania) in July 2014, in which the Hungarian prime minister explicitly declared his intention to build an "illiberal state," naming Singapore, China, Russia and Turkey as reference models.
A necessary note, updated to 2026
Orbán's Hungary was, for years, the textbook case cited in the literature for this category. But at Hungary's parliamentary elections on April 12, 2026, Orbán conceded defeat, ending 16 years in power, defeated by the Tisza party led by Péter Magyar; with 77% of votes counted, Magyar's party held over 53% support against Fidesz's 38%. An up-to-date glossary entry cannot present Hungary as currently governed by an "illiberal democracy model": the term remains valid as an analytical category and as a specific historical precedent (the 2014 speech), but its application to a concrete case must always be checked against the real political situation at the time of publication, not assumed from prior knowledge.
Why the entry exists anyway
The concept remains in use in political-science literature and in V-Dem/Freedom House reports to describe patterns (not a single country) of erosion from within through electorally legitimate means — distinct both from electoral autocracy (where the elections themselves are no longer free) and from hybrid regime (where the term describes a state, not a declared process). The distinction between "illiberal as an openly claimed process" and "autocratization as an externally measured process" is why the two entries remain separate.
A note on the country list
Unlike the previous entries in this glossary, no list of countries "classified as illiberal democracy" appears here, because no institute (V-Dem, Freedom House, EIU) uses this as a formal category — it is an analytical label applied case by case, not systematically. The only case reported in this entry with solid sourcing and dating is the Hungarian one described above. Adding others without dedicated verification for each would amount to fabricating a classification no one has ever formally compiled.
See also
Hybrid regime · Autocracy · Rule of law
Sources: Fareed Zakaria, "The Rise of Illiberal Democracy," Foreign Affairs (1997) · CNN — Hungary election, April 2026 · CBS News — Hungary election, April 2026