Reviews and criticisms

2023 Archie Brown: „Demontazh kommunizma: Tridtsat΄ let spustia. Ed. Kirill Rogov” (review), Slavic Review, 82:1. Link.

2023 Roman Hlatky: „Bálint Magyar and Bálint Madlovics, The Anatomy of Post-Communist Regimes: A Conceptual Framework” (review), Journal of Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society, 8:2. Link.

2023 Michael Derrer and Michelle Murri: „Scientific Conference ‘Social Change in Ukraine’ in Lucerne, Switzerland” (report of a conference where Magyar and Madlovics gave the two opening lectures), Societas/Communitas, 33:1, 429-434. Link. PDF.

2022 Jérôme Heurtaux: „Bálint Magyar and Bálint Madlovics, The Anatomy of Post-Communist Regimes, A Conceptual Framework” (review), European Review of International Studies, 24 August. Link.

2022 Williamson M. Evers: „Russia & Ukraine: Geopolitics, Liberty, and State Power” (The Anatomy of Post-Communist Regimes and Post-Communist Mafia State: The Case of Hungary are reviewed as part of a list of recommended readings), Independent Institute, August 11. Link.

2022 Júlia Király: „The political economy of mafia states: a seminal account” (review of The Anatomy of Post-Communist Regimes), Socio-Economic Review – Review Symposium, 20:2, 872-875. Link.

2022 Sonja Avlijas: „Post-communist relational economies and the global political economy of late capitalism” (review of The Anatomy of Post-Communist Regimes), Socio-Economic Review – Review Symposium, 20:2, 869-872. Link.

2022 Andrey Ryabov: „Magyar and Madlovics’s breakthrough and the question of socio-economic development” (review of The Anatomy of Post-Communist Regimes), Socio-Economic Review – Review Symposium, 20:2, 867-869. Link.

2022 Oleksandr Fisun: „New Paradigm for the Research of Post-communist Economies and Societies” (review of The Anatomy of Post-Communist Regimes), Socio-Economic Review – Review Symposium, 20:2, 863-867. Link.

2022 Gábor Illés: „Beyond the “mafia-state”: a comprehensive and innovative approach to post-communist regimes” (review of The Anatomy of Post-Communist Regimes), Review of Democracy, 24 June. Link.

2022 „What is Driving Vladimir Putin?” (The Anatomy of Post-Communist Regimes is listed by Masha Gessen among the four books to read on Putin’s Russia), The New York Times, 25 March. Link. In German, Spanish, Polish, Turkish.

2022 Michael D. Kennedy: „The Anatomy of Post-Communist Regimes. A Conceptual Framework” (review), Slavic Review, 80:4, 934-935. Link.

2022 Rachel A. Epstein: „The Anatomy of Post-Communist Regimes. A Conceptual Framework” (review), The Russian Review, 81:1, 196-198. Link. PDF.

2021 Chi Zhang: „The Anatomy of Post-Communist Regimes. A Conceptual Framework” (review), Europe-Asia Studies, 73:7, 1385-1386. Link.

2021 Levan Kakhishvili: „Stubborn Structures. Reconceptualizing Post-Communist Regimes” (review), Europe-Asia Studies, 73:5, 959-961. Link.

2021 Maxim Trudolyubov: „You decide: Is Putin running an illiberal democracy or a mafia state?” (review of The Anatomy of Post-Communist Regimes), Meduza, 7 July. Link. In Russian.

2020 Michael C. Zeller: „The anatomy of post-communist regimes: a conceptual framework” (review), Democratization, 3 November. Link. PDF.

2020 „Thirty books to help us understand the world in 2020” (Post-Communist Mafia State: The Case of Hungary is reviewed by Anne Applebaum as one of the top 5 books on populism), The Guardian, 18 October. Link.

2019 Iván Szelényi: „Paternal domination and the mafia state under post-communism” (review of Stubborn Structures), Theory and Society, 48 No. 4. Link. PDF.

2019 Stephen Holmes: „Democracy for Losers: Comment on Bálint Magyar”, in János Mátyás Kovács and Balázs Trencsényi, eds., Brave New Hungary: Mapping the “System of National Cooperation”, Lanham: Lexington Books, pp. 291-302. PDF.

2019 Balázs Váradi: „Nothing But a Mafia State?”, in János Mátyás Kovács and Balázs Trencsényi, eds., Brave New Hungary: Mapping the “System of National Cooperation”, Lanham: Lexington Books, pp. 303-310.

2019 Steven Jobbitt: „Bálint Magyar: Post-Communist Mafia State. The Case of Hungary”, Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas, vol. 9 issue 3. Link.

2018 Kate Langdon: „Magyar, Bálint. Post-Communist Mafia State. The Case of Hungary” (review), Politologický časopis – Czech Journal of Political Science, 25 no. 3. Link. PDF.

2017 Anna Grzymala-Busse: „Post-Communist Mafia State: The Case of Hungary” (review), Slavic Review, 76 n. 3. Link.

2017 Yulia Krylova: „Post-communist mafia state: the case of Hungary” (review), East European Politics, 33 No. 4. Link.

2017 Adam Fabry: „Post-communist mafia state: the case of Hungary” (review), Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe, 25 No. 1. Link.

2017 Péter Szegő: „Experts debate whether Hungary is really a ’mafia state’”, The Budapest Beacon, 15 May. Link.

2017 Karl Pfeifer: „Hungary: the post-communist mafia state” (review of Post-Communist Mafia State: The Case of Hungary), Harry’s Place (blog), 25 April. Link.

2016 Kester Eddy: „BOOK REVIEW: Hungary – the ’Post-Communist Mafia State’”, IntelliNews, 29 April. Link.

2016 „Public interest means nothing to Godfather Orbán” (review of Post-Communist Mafia State: The Case of Hungary), The Budapest Times, 5 March. Link.

2016 Arch Puddington: „The Hollowing out of Democracy: Hungary and Beyond” (commentary on Post-Communist Mafia State: The Case of Hungary), 1 March. PDF (transcript).

2016 Eva Balogh S.: „Bálint Magyar’s Latest Book: Post-Communist Mafia State: The Case of Hungary” (review), Hungarian Spectrum, 19 February. Link.

2014 Eva Balogh S.: „Bálint Magyar’s Post-Communist Mafia State: Front Men, Transaction Brokers, and Gatekeepers”, Hungarian Spectrum, 5 October. Link.

2014 Eva Balogh S.: „Bálint Magyar’s ’Systemic Characteristics of the Post-Communist Mafia State’”, Hungarian Spectrum, 4 October. Link.

2014 Jean-Paul Herman & Lise Herman: „Hungary as a Mafia State?” (review of Magyar Polip 1), Books & Ideas, 6 March. Link.

2013 Eva Balogh S.: „Hungarian Octopus: The Post-Communist Mafia State” (review of Magyar Polip 1), Hungarian Spectrum, 16 November. Link.

2013 Eva Balogh S.: „István Hegedűs: ’Mafia State and the Party’”, Hungarian Spectrum, 18 August. Link.

2013 Eva Balogh S.: „’Is Hungary Being Ruined by a Scoundrel or a Fanatic?’ A Debate”, Hungarian Spectrum, 17 August. Link.

2013 Eva Balogh S.: „Bálint Magyar: Viktor Orbán’s Post-Communist Mafia State, Part III”, Hungarian Spectrum, 20 June. Link.

2013 Eva Balogh S.: „Bálint Magyar: Viktor Orbán’s Post-Communist Mafia State, Part II”, Hungarian Spectrum, 19 June. Link.

2013 Eva Balogh S.: „Bálint Magyar: Viktor Orbán’s Post-Communist Mafia State, Part I”, Hungarian Spectrum, 18 June. Link.

Analyses based on the theoretical framework of Magyar and Madlovics

2024 Masha Gessen: „Ukraine’s Democracy in Darkness”, The New Yorker, 29 January. Link. In Russian, French, Chinese, Italian.

2023 Jan-Werner Müller: „Trump yearns to govern a mafia state. Fitting that he faces racketeering charges”, The Guardian, 22 August. Link.

2023 Vladimir Dubrovskiy: „Why is the Russian Bureaucracy Failing in the Face of War?”, RevDem – Review of Democracy, CEU Democracy Institute, 23 February. Link. In Bulgarian.

2022 Armando Chaguaceda: „Cuba: Citizenship vs Mafia State”, No Country Magazine, 11 October. Link. In Spanish, French, Portugese.

2021 Masha Gessen: „Trump’s Strategy for Returning to Power Is Already Clear”, The New Yorker, 2 March. Link.

2020 Masha Gessen: „The GOP Has Turned Into an Autocratic Party”, Amanpour and Company, 11 November. Link.

2020 Ezra Klein: „Trump is attempting a coup in plain sight”, Vox, 7 November. Link.

2020 Masha Gessen: „By Declaring Victory, Donald Trump Is Attempting an Autocratic Breakthrough”, The New Yorker, 5 November. Link.

2020 Michiko Kakutani: „Op-Ed: Democracies around the world are under threat. Ours is no exception”, Los Angeles Times, 31 October. Link.

2020 „En Route to Autocracy in America”, interview with Masha Gessen, The American Prospect, 11 October. Link.

2020 „Masha Gessen on the frightening fragility of America’s political institutions”, Ezra Klein Show, Vox, 10 July. Link.

2020 Gudrun Steinacker: „The Balkans’ Post-Communist Mafia States”, Albanian Daily News, 4 August. Link.

2020 Masha Gessen: „The President is Shilling Beans”, The New Yorker, 16 July. Link.

2019 Teri Kanefield: „Trump and Giuliani’s impeachment defense pushes America closer to a ‘mafia state’”, NBC News THINK, 5 November. Link.

2019 Masha Gessen: „The Trump Administration’s War on the Government is an ’Autocratic Attempt’”, The New Yorker, 27 October. Link.

2019 Jan-Werner Müller: „Populism and the People”, London Review of Books, 23 May. Link.

2019 Masha Gessen: „The Trump-Russia Investigation and the Mafia State”, The New Yorker, 31 January. Link.

2016 Masha Gessen: „The Putin Paradigm”, New York Review of Books, 13 December. Link.

2016 Rui Tavares: „The Autoligarch: Birth of the American Mafia State?”, Heinrich Böll Stiftung blog, 18 November. Link.

2016 Masha Gessen: „The Non-Political Political Arrest of Nikita Belykh in Russia”, The New Yorker, 1 July. Link.

2016 Masha Gessen: „Putin: The Rule of the Family”, New York Review of Books, 14 March. Link.

2015 Maria Snegovaya: „Russia the mafia state”, Meduza.io, December 17. Link.

2014 „George Soros: Russia is a ‘mafia state’”, France24, 10 November. Link.