From Constitutional Risk Management to Constitutional Risk Management (Emergency Law Misuse) in Hungary
The paper offers a comprehensive overview of Hungary’s emergency law and its misuse over the four years since its introduction in March 2020. Hungary serves as a clear example of how a “state of danger” – initially intended as an exceptional legal measure – can become normalised through repeated dec...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2025-06-01
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| Series: | European Journal of Risk Regulation |
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| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1867299X24001028/type/journal_article |
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| author | Fruzsina Gárdos-Orosz Evelin Burján |
| author_facet | Fruzsina Gárdos-Orosz Evelin Burján |
| author_sort | Fruzsina Gárdos-Orosz |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The paper offers a comprehensive overview of Hungary’s emergency law and its misuse over the four years since its introduction in March 2020. Hungary serves as a clear example of how a “state of danger” – initially intended as an exceptional legal measure – can become normalised through repeated declarations. The populist government’s continuous use of emergency powers has led to unchecked lawmaking and the manipulation of legal frameworks to advance populist agendas. The article argues that while Hungary’s detailed emergency provisions in the Fundamental Law were intended to serve as a form of constitutional risk management, after four years of living in a permanent “state of danger”, the scholarly debate has shifted to whether this very risk management has itself become the risk. According to emergency law theory, managing constitutional risks is equally vital in the emergency legal order. Yet in Hungary, both the black letter of the law and the constitutional practices observed during and after the COVID-19 pandemic – along with the Ninth Amendment to the Fundamental Law, which introduced a new emergency regime in 2021 – reveal that constitutional risk management has ultimately failed. This is manifest in the erosion of the separation of powers, the weakening of judicial review, and the shrinking of human rights protections. The article substantiates its argument by examining the related constitutional framework and constitutional practice in Hungary between 2020 and 2024. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-94bc26768f564cd4b7bf9529395e06c2 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1867-299X 2190-8249 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | European Journal of Risk Regulation |
| spelling | doaj-art-94bc26768f564cd4b7bf9529395e06c22025-08-20T13:03:10ZengCambridge University PressEuropean Journal of Risk Regulation1867-299X2190-82492025-06-011642143210.1017/err.2024.102From Constitutional Risk Management to Constitutional Risk Management (Emergency Law Misuse) in HungaryFruzsina Gárdos-Orosz0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7543-1567Evelin Burján1https://orcid.org/0009-0004-3389-7333HUN-REN CSS Institute for Legal Studies, Budapest, Hungary Eötvös Loránd University Faculty of Law, Budapest, HungaryEötvös Loránd University Faculty of Law, Budapest, HungaryThe paper offers a comprehensive overview of Hungary’s emergency law and its misuse over the four years since its introduction in March 2020. Hungary serves as a clear example of how a “state of danger” – initially intended as an exceptional legal measure – can become normalised through repeated declarations. The populist government’s continuous use of emergency powers has led to unchecked lawmaking and the manipulation of legal frameworks to advance populist agendas. The article argues that while Hungary’s detailed emergency provisions in the Fundamental Law were intended to serve as a form of constitutional risk management, after four years of living in a permanent “state of danger”, the scholarly debate has shifted to whether this very risk management has itself become the risk. According to emergency law theory, managing constitutional risks is equally vital in the emergency legal order. Yet in Hungary, both the black letter of the law and the constitutional practices observed during and after the COVID-19 pandemic – along with the Ninth Amendment to the Fundamental Law, which introduced a new emergency regime in 2021 – reveal that constitutional risk management has ultimately failed. This is manifest in the erosion of the separation of powers, the weakening of judicial review, and the shrinking of human rights protections. The article substantiates its argument by examining the related constitutional framework and constitutional practice in Hungary between 2020 and 2024.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1867299X24001028/type/journal_articleconstitutional emergencyHungarian constitutionalismspecial legal orderstate of danger |
| spellingShingle | Fruzsina Gárdos-Orosz Evelin Burján From Constitutional Risk Management to Constitutional Risk Management (Emergency Law Misuse) in Hungary European Journal of Risk Regulation constitutional emergency Hungarian constitutionalism special legal order state of danger |
| title | From Constitutional Risk Management to Constitutional Risk Management (Emergency Law Misuse) in Hungary |
| title_full | From Constitutional Risk Management to Constitutional Risk Management (Emergency Law Misuse) in Hungary |
| title_fullStr | From Constitutional Risk Management to Constitutional Risk Management (Emergency Law Misuse) in Hungary |
| title_full_unstemmed | From Constitutional Risk Management to Constitutional Risk Management (Emergency Law Misuse) in Hungary |
| title_short | From Constitutional Risk Management to Constitutional Risk Management (Emergency Law Misuse) in Hungary |
| title_sort | from constitutional risk management to constitutional risk management emergency law misuse in hungary |
| topic | constitutional emergency Hungarian constitutionalism special legal order state of danger |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1867299X24001028/type/journal_article |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT fruzsinagardosorosz fromconstitutionalriskmanagementtoconstitutionalriskmanagementemergencylawmisuseinhungary AT evelinburjan fromconstitutionalriskmanagementtoconstitutionalriskmanagementemergencylawmisuseinhungary |