In the twilight zone: the necessity of human rights limitations : a critical review of the human right to political participation in democratic transitions

Abstract

Taking the Hungarian case as a starting point, this thesis’ main argument is that when a state is in transition to democracy, leaving behind an authoritarian communist era, it is justified to limit the human right to political participation, by postponing the first free and fair elections. This is one of the aspects of the transitory model I propose for this specific kind of transition, a model that originally has been applied to post -war societies. The model proposes a gradual implementation of democratic reforms, instead of implementing immediate political and economic competition . It is not mere democracy that is the aim of this model, it is liberal democracy that is aimed for. However, liberalising a country while postponing elections seemingly forms a contradiction. But when time is allowed for necessary conditions of a liberal democracy to grow strong and secure, keeping the people from participating in political affairs in the short run is justified, a successfully consolidated liberal democracy in the long run being the justification. A successfully consolidated democracy is in the people’s interest, since a democracy with that status is best suitable to protect the human rights of its subjects, a requirement for the liberal democracies we nowadays live in.