Orbanization

From Orban +‎ -ization, after Viktor Orbán, the prime minister of Hungary since 2010; possibly punning on urbanization.

This entry needs an audio pronunciation. If you are a native speaker with a microphone, please record this word. The recorded pronunciation will appear here when it's ready.

Orbanization (uncountable)

(American and Oxford British spelling, politics, slang, derogatory) The process by which a (typically Western) democracy becomes undemocratic as an authoritarian leader takes control of its institutions and degrades the rule of law in order to remain in power.
- 2010 December 28, Erich Follath, Christoph Schult, “Hungary's 'Orbanization' Is Worrying Europe”, in Spiegel Online‎:
- 2017 October 1, Ivan T. Berend, “Europe since 1989: A History by Philipp Ther, Trans. Charlotte Hughes-Kreutzmüller”, in Slavic Review‎, volume 76, number 3:
  The Great Recession after 2008 that hit the east very hard is well discussed. But the authoritarian turn, first in Putin’s Russia and then the “Orbanization” of a large part of the former Soviet Bloc, the so-called Visegrad countries, especially Hungary and Poland and its impact on Europe and the EU, would have required a deep analysis.

process of becoming undemocratic

English