Rolling stones: dissident intellectuals in Hungary (1977–1994)

This article presents a model of rolling regime change that offers a new account of dissident intellectuals’ contribution to Hungary’s democratic transition. We analyse dissident intellectuals’ activities from the late 1970s, when they worked to undermine the Kádár regime, until the mid-1990s, when their political influence ended. Using descriptive statistical methods, we show that, rather than constituting an unchanging, monolithic group, the dissident intellectual movement changed periodically while its goal lived on. It was a combination of renewal, continuity, and adaptation to changing circumstances that made them so effective in shaping Hungary’s elite-led political and economic transitions.