"Fittingly described by the author as 'a diary of a constitutional scholar,' this book offers an important critical account about key constitutional and political developments that shaped the emergence of 'illiberal democracy' in Hungary in 2010-11. The analysis reflects an impressive breadth of knowledge coupled with deep commitment to the principles of liberal democracy. The book should be of great interest to scholars, students, and policy-makers interested in the future of democratic government in post-Cold War Europe."

Zsuzsa Csergo, Queen's University, Canada

"Pap's fascinating and timely Democratic Decline shows how defensible laws and democratic processes can be used to construct illiberalism. Most interesting is how the Hungarian 'System of National Cooperation,' an ideology that puts the national above the political community and has parallels with other European populisms, impacts an incredible range of policies that serve to privilege Christian, middle-class families and protect the state against individual rights claims."

Stephen Deets, Babson College, USA

"As one of the first and most corrosive expressions of the antiliberal Zeitgeist proliferating across today's world, Viktor Orban's "illiberal democracy" should be of concern to every politically responsible citizen in every struggling Western democracy. To understand what is at stake, no English-language work is more timely and more illuminating that Andras Pap's original and biting analysis of Hungary's plunge into constitutional antiliberalism."

Stephen Holmes, New York University School of Law, USA