Public Lecture: Ukraine’s Patronal Democracy and the Russian Invasion

Bálint MAGYAR is a sociologist and former liberal politician. He is a Research Fellow at the CEU Democracy Institute. He was an activist of the anti-communist dissident movement before the regime change, Member of the Hungarian Parliament (1990–2010), and Minister of Education (1996–1998, 2002–2006). He was an Open Society fellow (2015–2016), Hans Speier Visiting Professor at the New School for Social Research (2017), and Senior Research Fellow at CEU Institute for Advanced Study (2018–2019). He has been publishing and editing writings on post-communist regimes since 2013. His most recent books, co-authored by Bálint Madlovics, include The Anatomy of Post-Communist Regimes (CEU Press, 2020), A Concise Field Guide to Post-Communist Regimes (CEU Press, 2022), and a two-volume collection of studies on Ukraine’s Patronal Democracy and Russia’s Imperial Endeavor (CEU Press, 2023).

Bálint MADLOVICS is a political scientist and economist. He is a Research Fellow at the CEU Democracy Institute and visiting professor at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE). He holds an MA in Political Science (2018) from Central European University and BAs in sociology and applied economics. He was a research fellow at the Financial Research Institute in Budapest (2018–2019) and visiting professor at Corvinus University of Budapest (2022). He has published peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and books on post-communist regimes since 2015. His most recent books, co-authored by Bálint Magyar, include The Anatomy of Post-Communist Regimes (CEU Press, 2020), A Concise Field Guide to Post-Communist Regimes (CEU Press, 2022), and a two-volume collection of studies on Ukraine’s Patronal Democracy and Russia’s Imperial Endeavor (CEU Press, 2023).