András Bozoki

In Hungary, the rise of dissent, roundtable negotiations and pro-democracy movements offered a unique opportunity for politically engaged intellectuals at a time of rapid political change. My research identifies three different epochs of oppositional activity for intellectuals: cultivating the “culture of critical discourse” in delegitimizing the old regime; negotiating the terms of regime change as ‘legislators’ at the round table talks; and finally, returning to a social movement as ‘movement-intellectuals’ in criticizing multiparty politics.