Comparing the effects of civic education on democracy in Hungary and Poland

What is it about?

In the last few years, Poland and Hungary had dramatically divergent democratic trajectories (progress versus backsliding, respectively). In this paper, I advance an account of this, backed by empirical evidence, that looks at different choices that the two countries made immediately after their transition to democracy with respect to civic education - good choices in Poland, bad choices in Hungary. The effects of these choices can be seen, for instance, in voting patterns: Polish youth votes less authoritarian than older Poles, while in Hungary we see the opposite, Hungarian youth is more authoritarian (i.e., more likely than older Hungarians to support parties such as Fidesz and Jobbik).

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Why is it important?

This research is significant for the study of democracy and its determinants, and has immediate and obvious relevance for policy-making: if leaders do care about liberal democracy, then a focus on civic education is warranted. One novel aspect of my work is to connect the research made in the field of education (which claims that civic education is important, and can make a difference) with work on democracy (the former does not test the connection between the teaching of civics and democratic progress).