The End of "The End of History" - One Tale, Two Continents

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Diána Szántó

Abstract

This paper’s objective is to give an account of the ongoing transition from liberal democracy to a new form of governance, defined by the Hungarian Prime-Minister, Viktor Orbán, as the “illiberal state.” The author examines the transformation of the political culture in two countries, which at first sight do not have much in common: Sierra Leone and Hungary. In order to better understand the nature, causes and possible consequences of this shift, she re-examines the path leading from the democratic transformation of the 1990s to the present-day changes. She concludes that the move towards illiberal democracy is not a sudden, irrational deviation from what preceded it but rather the direct consequence of the way democratization was conceived and implemented in the countries in question. From a local angle, the illiberal turn points at a double rupture: that of the contract between national governments and local civil societies. From a global perspective, it probably reflects a tectonic reorganisation of international power relations.

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How to Cite
Szántó, D. (2016). The End of "The End of History" - One Tale, Two Continents. Modern Africa: Politics, History and Society, 4(2), 49–83. Retrieved from https://journals.uhk.cz/modernafrica/article/view/106
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Author Biography

Diána Szántó, Artemisszio Foundation

The leader of Artemisszio Foundation, an organisation actively promoting engaged anthropology in Hungary. Her research interest is in intercultural relations, international development, urbanity, civil society, migration, public health and West Africa. Her doctoral thesis investigates the post-war transformations in Sierra Leone from the point of view of polio-disabled communities. She is the author of a dozen of articles published in journals and collective books.