Trends of Radicalisation in Hungary

The report provides an insight into the most important hotspots of radicalisation in Hungary: the 2008-2009 Roma Murders, the “migrant-hunting” of László Toroczkai and the assaults on LGBTQI people orchestrated by György Budaházy. It outlines the underlying mechanisms and facilitating conditions of the hotspots, and situates them on the injustice-grievance-alienation-polarization (IGAP) spectrum. Our findings show that the proliferation of right-wing radical movements, coupled with the wider sociopolitical context, has had a significant effect on perpetrators. The growing public intolerance towards the Roma, migrants and LGBTQI people, the dominant political discourse, in tandem with the incompetence and/or ignorance of the authorities, are likely to have contributed to the outcome. As regards the IGAP spectrum, the feeling of grievance, injustice and, paradoxically, alienation were arguably not only shared by the perpetrators, but also by a significant proportion of the society at the time of the Roma Murders. Similarly, there is a growing consensus among Hungarians that migrants and LGBTQI people should have limited access to the resources and privileges of the community. Not only the perpetrators of the Roma Murders, but also Toroczkai and Budaházy may have had a reasonable expectation to be appreciated for what they have done by many.