What American Mayors Can Learn From Budapest

(Nina Hachigian – Just Security) Most people in the United States have not given much thought to the role of mayors in their system of democracy, including many mayors themselves — they never had to. While the degree of coordination between the federal government, states, and cities waxed and waned over time, mayors and their residents could mostly count on Washington, D.C., for basic adherence to checks and balances, respect for the rule of law, independent federal prosecutors, a normal flow of funds to local government for housing, education and infrastructure, and so on. Not anymore. Also not in Hungary for most of the last two decades. There, during the 16-year reign of illiberal autocrat Viktor Orban, local leaders have been the stewards of freedom. Orban, finally defeated last month by an opposition led by Peter Magyar, had targeted cities mercilessly and constantly, draining their resources, and pitting them against rural areas to curry favor with his base. Most mayors did not subscribe to his program for Hungary — they promoted civil liberties and protected the rights of vulnerable communities. Many local elected leaders in Hungary exercised the mechanisms and norms of democratic governance and rule of law every day — making government operations transparent, rooting out corruption, offering trusted information (sometimes via messages on public trash containers, as that was the only channel for communication left to them after independent media were hijacked). And they delivered on basic things that residents need and want as best they could with less and less money allocated to them. – What American Mayors Can Learn From Budapest