Representative international and Hungarian surveys leave no doubt: in no other post-communist country are people as dissatisfied, embittered, hopeless and disappointed by the outcome of the post-1989 transition as in Hungary. According to polls carried out in 2008 and 2009 (by Gallup and Pew World Polls, among other organizations) some 60 per cent of Hungarians see their country as a loser in the transition process, and three quarters of respondents claim their living conditions are now worse than they were under the communist dictatorship. Two-thirds believe the transition has only benefited the power elite. The political impact, especially on the […]