Comparison of illiberal democratic tendencies in Poland and Hungary

The bachelor thesis in reaction to current European tendencies focuses on illiberal democracies in Poland and Hungary. The focus of the work will be to describe the development of illiberal tendencies in both countries and relate them to the concept of illiberal democracy as presented by authors such as Fareed Zakaria and Wolfgang Merkel. The following aim of this work is to describe the similarities and differences between both countries. In the first part of the text the author will focus on the concept of illiberal democracy and its embeddedness in the discussion about hybrid regimes. In the following part the author will describe the development of Poland under the rule of the conservative Law and Justice party and also the evolvement of the situation in Hungary since the victory of Fidesz party in the parliamentary elections of 2010. Based on what has been stated above the author will primarily focus on topics such as the independence of the judiciary, attacks on free media or limitations of the civil society. The final part will serve for the purpose of comparison of the development in both countries and the identification of their differences and similarities. Key words: Illiberal democracy, Poland, Hungary, comparison, judiciary, rule of la