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The paper examines the CSOs – government relations during the COVID-19 pandemic, first introducing how the pandemic affected the already authoritarian regime in Hungary and how this regime utilized the epidemic to extend and fortify its power. Then the paper presents the antecedents of the relationship between civil society and government in the frame of the National System of Cooperation (NSC). This relationship is unilaterally dominated by the government, and it may appear as a “4C strategy”: Cooptation, Coercion, Crowding out, Creation (the creation of a new, loyal civil society). Exploring the civil society and government relations during the pandemic, the study will conclude that there was no government attempt to coordinate the activities of CSOs or to try to harmonize sectoral cooperation from a broader perspective. The occurrences demonstrated the explosion of solidarity and the carnival of solidarity. These forms of solidarity, however, remain informal and leave deepening structural problems untouched. The paper presents the results of an empirical research which was conducted between March and September of 2020. The nodal points of the research include the resilience and flexibility of the organizations, their efforts to assist during the emergency and lockdown, as well as the issues of networking and the nature of their relations with the national and local authorities.

BackgroundAlthough the cytokine IL-31 has been implicated in inflammatory and lymphoma-associated itch, the cellular basis for its pruritic action is yet unclear.ObjectiveWe sought to determine whether immune cell-derived IL-31 directly stimulates sensory neurons and to identify the molecular basis of IL-31-induced itch.MethodsWe used immunohistochemistry and quantitative real-time PCR to determine IL-31 expression levels in mice and human subjects. Immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, quantitative real-time PCR, in vivo pharmacology, Western blotting, single-cell calcium imaging, and electrophysiology were used to examine the distribution, functionality, and cellular basis of the neuronal IL-31 receptor α in mice and human subjects.ResultsAmong all immune and resident skin cells examined, IL-31 was predominantly produced by TH2 and, to a significantly lesser extent, mature dendritic cells. Cutaneous and intrathecal injections of IL-31 evoked intense itch, and its concentrations increased significantly in murine atopy-like dermatitis skin. Both human and mouse dorsal root ganglia neurons express IL-31RA, largely in neurons that coexpress transient receptor potential cation channel vanilloid subtype 1 (TRPV1). IL-31-induced itch was significantly reduced in TRPV1-deficient and transient receptor channel potential cation channel ankyrin subtype 1 (TRPA1)-deficient mice but not in c-kit or proteinase-activated receptor 2 mice. In cultured primary sensory neurons IL-31 triggered Ca(2+) release and extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 phosphorylation, inhibition of which blocked IL-31 signaling in vitro and reduced IL-31-induced scratching in vivo.ConclusionIL-31RA is a functional receptor expressed by a small subpopulation of IL-31RA(+)/TRPV1(+)/TRPA1(+) neurons and is a critical neuroimmune link between TH2 cells and sensory nerves for the generation of T cell-mediated itch. Thus targeting neuronal IL-31RA might be effective in the management of TH2-mediated itch, including atopic dermatitis and cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.

This paper aims to examine the manifestations and abuses of the exceptionalist legal order in Hungary during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the refugee crisis of 2015, the Orbán regime has been using the instruments of exceptional governance in a continuous way, which has become more and more pronounced in the context of the crises of recent years, especially the COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper, the author first presents the literature on the state of exception and its use by authoritarian populist regimes. Then, the author will discuss how the Orbán regime employs the tools of exceptional governance in an authoritarian manner, with a particular focus on how the tools of exceptional governance have become part of the constitutional structure. Finally, the author will explain the risks and anti-democratic dangers of the use of extraordinary measures of governance without checks and balances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes how the incumbent authoritarian populist Orbán government started to navigate itself from an anti-climate to a conservative green position. First, the theoretical background of environmentalism and democracy/autocracy will be investigated. It is to say that the relationship between democracy and the environment is quite contradictory, although democracy has a demonstrable effect on the quality of the environment and sustainability, it is not worth absolutizing. That is why we should put an emphasis on the environmental approach of authoritarian regimes, here as a case study of the Hungarian regime. From 2010, the Orbán regime elaborated an ambiguous attitude toward the environment and green politics; on the on hand, it was characterized by climate denialism and demolition of environmental institutions, on the other hand, the super-majority behind the regime accepted the Fundamental Law with several green elements. In the second half of 2019 and early 2020, the regime started to create a new conservative green agenda. This authoritarian populist greening is not based on eco-authoritarian traditions. This paper challenges the notion that authoritarian populist actors are hostile to environmental policies. The Orbán regime proved adaptive in the case of the climate emergency and is about to elaborate its own climate agenda. At the same time, the regime is unable to face the real nature of the climate and ecological emergencies. The crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has been used by the regime to rule by decree based on exceptional powers. In fact, the regime relied on exceptional governance before the COVID-19 crisis, ever since the migration crisis of 2015. The authoritarian populist regime recognized the political opportunities of exceptional governance in terms of overlapping crises and that is why it is characterized by authoritarian climate populism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the procedure by which political science in Hungary was institutionalized in the 1970s and 1980s. Political science in Hungary has been subordinated to politics since the 1980s, which is why, despite adapting to Western European standards, it has not developed any critical approaches of its own. The institutional integration of political science in Hungary was planned into the Socialist-Communist framework from the second half of the 1970s. On the other hand, due to the weakening of the Communist regime, scientific elites from other fields among the social sciences constantly widened the boundaries of the system. This opened up opportunities for the application of the achievements of Western political science to Hungary. The paper interprets how the political sciences was reorganized in Hungary during the Communist era. Political science began to emerge in the scientific frameworks in the 1970s with the contribution of samizdat literature of the 1980s, which represented the rehabilitation of the genre of political journalism. The study examines the role of the International Political Science Association's World Congress of 1979 in Moscow. In the paper, it is emphasized that political science began to institutionalize as a branch of social science in the academic sphere, which neither had a background in higher education nor a professional organization system. The situation was further complicated by the fact that the background of the discipline was provided by the MSzMP Central Committee's Institute for Social Sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This theoretical study aims to contribute to the literature dealing with populism from a transnational perspective. I will apply the post-structuralist concept of Empire and Multitude developed by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri to theorize transnational populism. This is not the usual way of thinking about populism, because there are several internal debates and tensions between Hardt/Negri and Laclau/Mouffe (Hardt, Negri: 2017). Although there are very important trends (Kioupkiolis, Katsambekis: 2014; Kioupkiolis: 2014) in the critical literature to reconcile the populist and post-hegemonic tendencies as the hegemony of the multitude. This study relies on these tendencies. In the first part I am investigating the nature of the neoliberal world order as the Empire in the context of hegemony and populism. As it has been analysed in the first part of this paper, with the crisis of liberal democracy we have entered the era of populist democracy and there is a fierce struggle between the left and the right to define and maintain the core nature of democracy. It will be argued in the third part that right-wing nationalist populism can be seen as a manifestation of populism in the context of the Empire. I will emphasize the multitude as a counter-populist concept compared to the Empire. In the fourth part I put forward that the multitude as an empty signifier can achieve some reconciliation between Laclau/Mouffe and Hard/Negri. I will also argue that transnational populism needs to have its transnational political subject which should be based on the multitude reinterpreted in populist context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to explore the political theoretical background o f governing populism in Hungary. It has been argued here th a t th e political success o f Viktor Orbán's Governments a re based on mixing th re e main political theoretical pillars: 1) the concept o f the Political elaborated by Carl Schmitt; 2) the Weberian concept leader democracy; 3) and political constitutionalism. What is common in these th re e tendencies is the promise o f repoliticisation. I will elaborate in this study th a t elitist populism and illiberal democracy are the tw o core concepts which can synchronize and converge the various (and sometimes contradictory) political theoretical backgrounds o f Orbán's regime. I also p u : forwa rd here th a t the populist promise o f political leadership is inhe rently false, because instead o f repoliticisation, populist forces monopolize political representation and liquidate political responsioility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the Hungarian environmental and energy democracy from the regime change in 1989 to 2015. The main pillars of environmental democracy (access to information, public participation and access to justice) have been strengthened and the Aarhus regulations have been incorporated to the Hungarian legal system. This study argues that environmental democracy belongs to the normative-empirical theories of democracy. I elaborate on the constitutional and legal bases of environmental democracy and I argue that, since 2010, several restrictions have been carried out about the environmental democracy by the Hungarian governments. Since the projected extension of the Paks Nuclear Power Plant, these restrictions have increased. Despite of the strong legal foundations, the Hungarian environmental policy and environmental democracy have been in continuous regression and under attack. This paper proposes two main hypotheses. According to the first, the Hungarian environmental democracy has been evolved through legal constitutionalism (which is a main constitutional tendency in the United States), and its restrictions have been in conjunction with the constitutionalist era since 2010. The other hypothesis concerns the energy democracy, which means - in the United States and Germany - socializing and democratizing the methods of energy production and consumption without harming or endangering the environment or people. It has been argued that the prevailing of the Aarhus pillars in the field of energy policy (i.e., energy democracy) has a huge impact on the environmental democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic pruritus is frequently refractory to currently available treatments. Studies suggest that pruritus may arise from an imbalance of the mu- and kappa-opioid receptor system activity in either the skin or the central nervous system. Stimulation of kappa-opioid receptors by their agonists inhibits pruritus in both animals and humans. The antipruritic effect of kappa-opioid receptors agonists can currently be assumed to be related to their binding to kappa-opioid receptors on keratinocytes and cutaneous and/or central itch neurones. To date, several case reports and 2 controlled trials have demonstrated a beneficial effect of systemic kappa-opioid receptor agonists in the treatment of uraemic pruritus, prurigo nodularis, paraneoplastic and cholestatic pruritus. Nalfurafine hydrochloride (Remitch®), a selective kappa-opioid receptor agonist, is approved for the treatment of chronic pruritus in Japan. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of the promising role of kappa-opioid receptors and their agonist in the pathophysiology and treatment of pruritus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple eruptive dermatofibromas are a rare presentation of dermatofibroma which are frequently associated with underlying diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus infection or lupus erythematosus. Eruptive dermatofibromas generally present a characteristic histology with a poorly circumscribed lesion showing hyperplasia of the epidermis, prominent bundles of collagen and a diffuse proliferation of fibrocytes. We report an unusual case of multiple eruptive dermatofibromas showing massive depositions of mucin within the dermis. A 20-year-old woman presented with nearly 100 red to yellowish papules and nodules distributed symmetrically all over the integument which developed over a period of 9 years. Comprehensive clinical and laboratory diagnostics showed no signs indicating any underlying disease. To our knowledge this is the first report of multiple eruptive myxoid dermatofibromas. We consider this case to be a unique presentation of multiple eruptive dermatofibroma showing massive deposition of mucin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]