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Social innovations in illiberal systems: two contrasting cases in Hungary

  • Attila Havas (Author and Speaker)
  • Judit Keller (Author)
  • György Molnár (Author)
  • Tünde Virág (Author)

Activity: Talk or presentation / LecturePresentation at a scientific conference / workshop

Description

Rising inequalities and deprivation have been important drivers for social innovation (SI). SIs are novel initiatives or novel combinations of known solutions, aimed at tackling a societal problem or creating new societal opportunities, applied in practice. SIs success requires enabling institutional framework that facilitate collaborative agency for its design and implementation. However, authoritarian governance undermines such framework conditions. Authoritarian regimes feed on social polarisation, centralisation of power, strengthening of hegemonic governance modes, weakening transparency, accountability, and the rules of law. Hungary has become a prime example of democratic backsliding with socio-spatial disparities intensified by perverse public policies and clientelist patterns of relations. By comparing two SI cases from Hungary, this presentation illustrates different ways, in which ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’ SI practitioners can interact with, and operate in, an authoritarian system. It discusses how agents’ different positions influence their SI practices and strategies and offers theoretical and practical implications.
Period6 Jun 2024
Event titleThe Eu-SPRI Forum Annual Conference 2024: Governing Technology, Research, and Innovation for Better Worlds
Event typeConference
LocationEnschede, NetherlandsShow on map

UN SDGs

This activity contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

  1. SDG 1 - No Poverty
    SDG 1 No Poverty
  2. SDG 2 - Zero Hunger
    SDG 2 Zero Hunger
  3. SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities
    SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities

Research Field

  • Societal Futures

Keywords

  • Social innovation (SI)
  • Framework conditions for SI
  • Multi-level analysis of SI
  • SI strategies in authoritarian polities
  • Hungary