What to do when Viktor Orban erodes democracy

IN 1989, during the dying days of the Soviet Union, a long-haired 26-year-old dissident called Viktor Orban addressed a crowd in Budapest’s Heroes’ Square. The charismatic young liberal told the Russians to withdraw from Hungary. He rejected “the dictatorship of a single party”. He called for free elections.How things change. Today Mr Orban, Hungary’s prime minister, is one of Vladimir Putin’s closest friends in Europe. His country is increasingly dominated by one party, his own. Elections may be free, but they are not fair. Mr Orban has rewritten the constitution, dismantled checks and balances (“a US invention” unsuited to Europe, he says), muzzled the press and empowered oligarchs. Refugees, who supposedly threaten Hungary’s Christian identity, are beaten by police and mauled by police dogs. Debates over values, Mr Orban thinks, “unnecessarily generate social problems”. He wants to fashion an “illiberal state” modelled on China, Russia and Turkey.