Bálint Magyar (born as ''János Magyar''; 15 November 1952) is a
Hungarian politician, who served as
Minister of Education between 1996–1998 and between 2002–2006. He was a founding member of the
Alliance of Free Democrats
The Alliance of Free Democrats – Hungarian Liberal Party ( hu, Szabad Demokraták Szövetsége – a Magyar Liberális Párt, SZDSZ) was a liberal political party in Hungary.
The SZDSZ was a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrat ...
.
His book ''Magyar polip – A posztkommunista maffiaállam'' (2013) describes modern Hungary as a
mafia state
In politics, a mafia state is a state system where the government is tied with organized crime to the degree when government officials, the police, and/or military became a part of the criminal enterprise. According to US diplomats, the expressio ...
. An English translation of the book, ''Post-Communist Mafia State: The Case of Hungary'', was published in 2016.
Family
His paternal grandparents were the journalist Elek Magyar and Berta Kürthy who was granddaughter of the 19th century Hungarian Prime Minister
Bertalan Szemere
Bertalan Szemere (27 August 1812 – 18 January 1869) was a Hungarian poet and nationalist who became the third Prime Minister of Hungary during the short period of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 when Hungary was independent of rule by the Aus ...
. His father is the writer and theatre manager Bálint Magyar, Sr. His mother, Olga Siklós (b. Schwarcz), was born to a Jewish family in
Kolozsvár
; hu, kincses város)
, official_name=Cluj-Napoca
, native_name=
, image_skyline=
, subdivision_type1 = County
, subdivision_name1 = Cluj County
, subdivision_type2 = Status
, subdivision_name2 = County seat
, settlement_type = City
, l ...
. Bálint has a sister, Fruzsina who is the wife of
Imre Mécs. Bálint Magyar's wife is
Róza Hodosán, a former member of the
National Assembly of Hungary
The National Assembly ( hu, Országgyűlés, lit=Country Assembly) is the parliament of Hungary. The unicameral body consists of 199 (386 between 1990 and 2014) members elected to 4-year terms. Election of members is done using a semi-proport ...
. They have a daughter, Annamária.
Career
He earned a degree in history from the
Faculty of Humanities of the
Eötvös Loránd University in 1977. Magyar is a Research Fellow at the Financial Research Institute (since 2010) with a Doctoral degree in Political Economy (1980) from
Faculty of Law of the
Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. He has published and edited numerous books on post-communist mafia states since 2013. He was an Open Society Fellow for carrying out comparative studies in this field (2015-2016), Hans Speier Visiting Professor at the New School (2017), and a Senior Fellow at the CEU Institute for Advanced Study (2018-2019). Formerly, he was an activist of the Hungarian anti-communist dissident movement, founder of the Liberal Party of Hungary (SZDSZ, 1988), a Member of the Hungarian Parliament (1990-2010), and the Hungarian Minister of Education (1996-1998, 2002-2006).
[ ]
References
Biography
1952 births
Living people
Alliance of Free Democrats politicians
Education ministers of Hungary
Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1990–1994)
Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1994–1998)
Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1998–2002)
Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (2002–2006)
Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (2006–2010)
Hungarian Jews
Politicians from Budapest
{{Hungary-politician-stub