Crucibles of Political Loyalty
Church Institutions and Electoral Continuity in Hungary

This book explores Hungary's path from pre- to post-communism, drawing on archival materials and an original election database.

Jason Wittenberg (Author)

9781107404847, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 19 July 2012

312 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm, 0.46 kg

"Wittenberg has successfully mixed a reading of the everyday party documents with a cutting-edge study of voting patterns to produce a convincing overall work. It is one of a few, and certainly one of the best, works on the persistence of political loyalties in authoritarian societies."
Roger Petersen, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

This book investigates one of the oldest paradoxes in political science: why do mass political loyalties persist even amid prolonged social upheaval and disruptive economic development. Drawing on extensive archival research and an original database of election results, this book explores the paradox of political persistence by examining Hungary's often tortuous path from pre- to post-communism. Wittenberg reframes the theoretical debate, and then demonstrates how despite the many depredations of communism, the Roman Catholic and Calvinist Churches transmitted loyalties to parties of the Right. Contrary to conventional wisdom, Church resistance occurred not from above, but from below. Hemmed in and harassed by communist party cadres, parish priests and pastors employed a variety of ingenious tactics to ensure the continued survival of local church institutions. These institutions insulated their adherents from pressures to assimilate into the surrounding socialist milieu. Ultimately this led to political continuity between pre- and post-communism.

1. Explaining political persistence
2. Electoral persistence and volatility in Hungary
3. The churches first confront communism
4. The battle for souls, 1948–56
5. The battle for souls after 1956
6. Church community and rightist persistence: statistical evidence
7. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Comparative politics [JPB], Politics & government [JP], Regional studies [GTB]