The two-pillar squeeze: Media pluralism and anti-gender politics in illiberal rights governance in Hungary

Abstract

This article develops a mechanism-based account of illiberal rights governance through what I call the “two-pillar squeeze.” In contemporary culture-war contexts, fundamental rights are pressured not only through explicit legal restrictions, but also through changes in the institutional conditions that make rights effective. The first pillar targets the legal primacy of freedom of expression and the right to seek, receive, and impart information, weakening access to public information, media independence, and the practical capacity of journalism and civil society to operate as watchdogs. The second pillar weaponizes anti-gender politics—often framed as “child protection” or public morality—to justify regulatory and administrative measures that narrow autonomy, privacy, equality, and non-discrimination while expanding discretionary power. Using Hungary as a critical case, the article shows how these pillars can reinforce each other: a degraded informational environment blunts scrutiny and accountability, enabling moralized regulation, which in turn legitimates broader interventions in the public sphere. Methodologically, it combines reflexive political science with legal analysis, tracing these dynamics in constitutional amendments, statutes, administrative practices, litigation, and European enforcement and compliance pressures.