Political Participation and Volunteering During the Covid-19 Pandemic in Hungary

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has had massive, global-scale impacts. For the realization of policy goals, the pandemic calls for citizen co-production. Since most policies are voluntary, levers for encouraging compliance with them oblige public servants to find ways to activate residents’ civic sense of duty. Such efforts are likely to be more effective if they harness the popular legitimacy of intermediaries – from civic organizations to for-profit companies – that can exert normative pressure for compliance. With the aim of the management and reduction of health, economic risks, and damages, several initiatives have been organized in Hungary. Initiators included political parties, registered NGOs, companies and informal groups and communities. In our research, we seek to answer the question to what extent the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has changed previous trends in Hungarian social and political participation. Is the participation of high-status people still typical, and has the role of online participation in the political participation of Hungarian society increased? Have new participants appeared or become identifiable?