ABSTRACT
Hungarian coalition governments have not only dominated the domestic political landscape since 2010 but also embarked on an organised project to recalibrate the national political economy for the purposes of self-reproduction. The extraordinary successes the government has achieved through these changes make Hungary a highly unique politico-economic case amongst its post-socialist European peers. This chapter investigates a critical aspect of this phenomenon: how far Fidesz has subsumed domestic business through an enlarging state-business relationship, captured here by the Weberian term ‘prebendalism’. Using data collected from semi-structured elite interviews conducted in Budapest between 2017 and 2023, this chapter discusses the origins of Fidesz longevity and the successes of the prebendal network in determining current and potential paths of capitalist development. From a theoretical perspective, this chapter argues the Varieties of Capitalism approach can maintain efficacy in accounting for Hungarian capitalism and its trajectories but must acknowledge the critical importance of political agency in determining such outcomes.
