Fidesz have won a clear victory in Hungary’s elections, but their supermajority hangs in the balance

Hungary held parliamentary elections on Sunday. As Erin Marie Saltman writes, Viktor Orbán’s ruling Fidesz party came out comfortably ahead in the vote and will maintain its majority in the next parliament. However with the votes still being counted, there is still some doubt over whether Fidesz will have the ‘supermajority’ required to alter the country’s constitution. Regardless of the final count, she argues that the elections mean Hungary will continue along a more centralised and nationalistic path, including a potential reorientation away from ‘Western powers’ and toward Russia

Fidesz continues to dominate Hungarian politics ahead of the country’s 2014 elections

Hungary is due to hold elections in spring 2014. Erin Marie Saltman writes on the current state of play ahead of the elections, where the ruling Fidesz party will be seeking to maintain control over the country’s government. She notes that recent polls put Fidesz comfortably ahead of its nearest rivals, and that the fragmented nature of the opposition within Hungary is likely to undermine any attempt to seriously challenge Fidesz for power

Hungary has put its own economic interests above EU solidarity by siding with Russia over reverse gas flows to Ukraine

Russia and the EU have been engaged in a dispute over the legality of so called ‘reverse gas flows’, whereby Russian gas imports to EU countries are redirected back to Ukraine via Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. In September, however, Hungary opted to suspend these reverse gas flows, prompting criticism from some of its EU partners. Erin Marie Saltman writes that the decision is symptomatic of wider problems in the EU’s relationship with Hungary: chiefly the country’s willingness to put economic interests above EU solidarity and the inability of the EU to force its own members to comply with joint-standards

European Parliament election results – our experts react

European Parliament elections were held from 22 – 25 May. We asked a number of experts to comment on the results and what the elections mean for individual countries across Europe. The Front National is now an equal player across the whole of France, and no longer merely a ‘nuisance’ to the mainstream – Jocelyn Evans – University of Leeds Farage’s world is an authoritarian fantasy – Mary Evans – LSE Gender Institute The most interesting development in Germany is the ascendancy of the Eurosceptic Alternative für Deutschland– Kai Arzheimer – University of Mainz Despite the headlines about Euroscepticism, the voice of those worst affected by the crisis is now louder. Could it be that a more sanguine reading of these electoral results is warranted? – Iain Begg – LSE European Institute Unlike the other radical right-wing parties is Europe, the Golden Dawn has managed to attract voters from across the party system in Greece – Sofia Vasilopoulou, University of York, and Daphne Halikiopoulo, University of Reading The EP election results will clearly have great implications for the political landscape in Europe – Sara Hagemann – LSE European Institute What we are witnessing is, in a sense, a reconstitution of a form of class politics – Eric Shaw – University of Stirling The reverberations of the Ukraine crisis in the Latvian domestic political debate certainly did not help Harmony in its bid to attract the Latvian leftist vote – Licia Cianetti – University College London The European election in Spain confirms the recession of two-party politics and the advancement of left Eurocriticism – Juan Rodríguez-Teruel – University of Valencia The elections in Hungary were a symbol of the population’s continued disappointment with the inability of the liberal-left opposition forces to unite – Erin Marie Saltma

Unless the fractured opposition left can unite, the political hegemony of the right will continue in Hungary

In Hungary, political opinion has polarised, with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the Fidesz party enjoying considerable support as they continue to attack the EU. Erin Marie Saltman writes that only time will tell if Hungary’s divided left opposition will be able to put aside their differences and unite to overpower the radical right

‘Till martyrdom do us part’: gender and the ISIS phenomenon

This report explores the phenomenon of Western females travelling to Syria and Iraq in support of ISIS. Introduction Although often assumed to be passive agents, women have played significant roles in a number of contemporary terrorist organizations. Violent extremist groups across the political and ideological spectrum have utilised female forces for a range of activities including logistics, recruitment, political safeguarding, operations, suicide bombing and combat. However, the recent unprecedented surge in female recruits to the terrorist organization Islamic State (ISIS) has brought this phenomenon into sharp focus. For many there remain misperceptions and misunderstandings concerning the role women play within these violent networks, often paired with engendered responses to the radicalisation of women. By analysing how terrorist organisations choose to utilise women, we are able to better understand the decision-making processes of terrorists and the inner-workings of the organization itself. The number of Western foreign fighters and migrants to ISIS is estimated to be up to 4,000, with over 550 women within this figure. This unprecedented number of Western male foreign terrorist fighters is paralleled by an equally unprecedented number of women traveling to support ISIS. Questions are now being posed as to how and why females are being recruited en masse, what role they play for ISIS, and what tools will best work to counter this new threat. Yet very little work has been done to not only answer these questions but to build sustainable preventative measures. This report attempts to shed light on these questions as the second publication within ISD’s Women and Extremism (WaE) programme. The first WaE report, Becoming Mulan? Female Western Migrants to ISIS, addressed some of the reasons for Western females traveling to ISIS-territory and exposed key elements of the reality for females upon arrival ISIS-controlled territory. This report aims to expand upon previous research by giving depth to understanding who is being radicalized, why these women decide to depart for Syria and how we can better stop these processes. There are three primary sections to this report. The first maps the primary push and pull factors which prime women and lead them down a path of violent radicalisation to the point at which they decide they must make hijra (migrate) to join ISIS. These factors disprove the one-dimensional label for these women, who are often referred to simply as ‘jihadi brides’. The second section of this report gives indepth profiles of 7 English-speaking females who have successfully journeyed to join ISIS and are now resident in the so-called Islamic State. These profiles show the diversity among female recruits and expose everything from their driving motivations, worldviews and subsequent roles under ISIS control. The final section of this report looks at counter-extremism work in the space of prevention and de-radicalisation, showing how various Western governments are operating within this space and analysing where better infrastructure is needed to address the topic of gender within processes of radicalisation

Evolving biosecurity frameworks

The relationship between infectious disease and security concerns has undergone an evolution since the end of the Cold War. What was previously seen as two separate domains – public health and national security – have, through various events and disease outbreaks in the last 15 years, become intertwined and as a result biosecurity policies now need to address a spectrum of disease threats that encompass natural outbreaks, accidental releases and the deliberate use of disease as weapons