The Power of Party System Change and Parliamentary Rule Changes on the Opposition Behavior: The Case of Hungary

In Hungary, the relation of the government and its opposition has long been defined by rigid bloc politics following the left-right divide and growing polarization. Due to strong coalition unity parliamentary work has been dominated by the government both in terms of agenda-setting and decision-making. The limited opportunity structure of the opposition along with the dominance of governments undermined the consensus-seeking and mediating function of the parliament. During the crisis and the post-crisis period the transformation of the party system, including a divided and a highly fragmented opposition as well as the parliamentary rule changes introduced by the predominant government party provided a new context for opposition behavior. The paper seeks to  reflect on the power of these new developments under the assumption that the crisis did not smooth government and opposition conflicts.