A Defiant Populist Becomes a Cautionary Tale

For more than a decade, Viktor Orban was an idol for populist movements around the world as he pursued his vision of an “illiberal democracy” in Hungary. Now he risks being a cautionary tale.

While investors have mostly focused on the turmoil in Brexit Britain under its new prime minister, Liz Truss, the crisis unfolding in Orban’s Hungary is perhaps an even more stark example of what happens when a political project becomes untethered from economic reality.