Liberalism, Libertarianism, Republicanism

In Hungary, liberal thought, or, for some time, just thinking, as elsewhere in Europe, originated in the second half of the eighteenth century, and gained popularity in the aftermath of the French Revolution, as a moderate position between the urgency of radical social and political reforms and the fear of revolutionary violence. Unlike in the Anglo-Saxon world, the French Revolution was arguably the central political event for continental liberalism, and it had lasting effects on it, including the Hungarian liberal tradition. We shall outline this aspect first.