Covid-19'un Otoriterliğe Yöneliş Üzerindeki Etkisi: Macaristan Örneği

Freedom House 2023 Raporu’nun da belirttiği gibi, dünyada son 17 yılda demokrasiden otoriterliğe doğru bir kayış gerçekleşmiştir. Otoriterliğe yönelik bu küresel eğilim 2019 yılının sonlarına doğru Çin’in Wuhan kentinde ortaya çıkan koronavirüs salgının (COVID-19) patlak vermesiyle hızlanmıştır. Milyonlarca insanın ölümüne neden olan bu virüsle mücadelede hükümetler, iş yerlerinin kapatılması, sokağa çıkma yasakları ve zorunlu aşılar da dahil olmak üzere bir dizi ciddi tedbiri uygulamaya koymuştur. Pandemi öncesinde de otoriter eğilimleri olan popülist siyasetçiler, virüsle mücadele kisvesi altında özgür ve adil seçimler, kuvvetler ayrılığı, siyasi özgürlükler ve medeni haklar gibi önemli demokratik kavramları göz ardı etmişlerdir. Bu ilkelerin popülist liderler tarafından ihlali dünyada demokrasinin gerilemesini hızlandırmıştır. Bu bağlamda, her siyasi krizde kendi gücünü arttırmak için demokratik olmayan politikalar izleyen Macaristan Başbakanı Viktor Orban, koronavirüs salgını ile savaşmak amacıyla, Mart 2020’de Macar parlamentosunu kendisine olağanüstü acil durum yetkileri vermeye zorlamıştır. Orban, koronovirüs önlemlerini bahane edip, Macaristan’da tek adam yönetimi kurarak, parlamentoyu baypas etmiştir. Orban hükümeti, medya, sivil toplum ve muhalefette kendi politikalarını eleştirenleri bastırmak için yasal bir çerçeve geliştirmiştir. Hükümet ayrıca anayasa değişiklikleri yoluyla yargı bağımsızlığı, azınlık hakları, ifade özgürlüğü ve toplanma özgürlüğünü ihlal eden kısıtlamalar getirmiştir. Bir başka ifadeyle, Orban, koronavirüs salgınını Macaristan’ın demokratik yapılarını ve ilkelerini daha da zayıflatmak için kullanmıştır. İnsan hakları örgütleri ve Avrupa Birliği, Macaristan’ın Orban yönetimi altında demokrasiyi yavaş yavaş zayıflatmasını eleştirmiştir. Bu makale, Wolfgang Merkel’in (2004) demokrasinin pekişmesi için gerekli gördüğü dört koşul, seçimler, medeni haklar, siyasi özgürlükler ve kuvvetler ayrılığı bağlamında, COVID-19 salgınının Macaristan’da Başbakan Viktor Orban yönetiminde demokratik gerilemenin hızlanması üzerindeki etkisini analiz etmeyi amaçlamaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler:

COVID-19, Macaristan’da demokrasinin gerilemesi, Viktor Orban

The Impact of Covid-19 on the Move towards Authoritarianism: The Case of Hungary

As the Freedom House Report 2023 shows, there has been a global trend from democracy to authoritarianism over the past 17 years. This gained further momentum in late 2019 with the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Wuhan, China. In the fight against this virus, which has resulted in the deaths of millions of people, governments implemented several significant measures, including closures, curfews, and mandatory vaccinations. Under the pretense of combatting the virus, populist politicians, who already had authoritarian inclinations before the pandemic, disregarded important democratic principles, such as free and fair elections, separation of powers, political liberties, and civil rights. The violations of these principles by populist leaders accelerated global democratic backsliding. In this context, in March 2020, in response to the coronavirus pandemic, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has used every political crisis to find excuses to pursue undemocratic policies and strengthen his hold on power, pushed the Hungarian parliament to grant him extraordinary emergency powers. He used coronavirus precautions to establish one-man rule in Hungary by bypassing parliament. His government devised a legislative framework to suppress critics of its policies in the media, civil society, and the opposition. Orban also implemented restrictions violating judicial independence, minority rights, freedom of expression, and freedom of assembly through constitutional amendments. In other words, Orban utilized the coronavirus outbreak to further weaken Hungary’s democratic structures and principles. Human rights organizations and the European Union have criticized Hungary’s slow erosion of democracy under Orban’s administration. This article analyzes the impact of COVID-19 on the acceleration of democratic backsliding in Hungary, under the rule of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, in terms of Wolfgang Merkel’s (2004) four conditions for democratic consolidation: electoral regimes, civil rights, political freedoms, and separation of powers.

Keywords:

COVID-19, democratic backsliding in Hungary, Viktor Orban,

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