Becoming . . . Irrelevant (Hungary and the World. . . with a Sad Wink at the EU)

One theme in the ruins of the erstwhile "liberal" media in Hungary is that the country's foreign policy is increasingly "isolated."

Here is a little background to that: Witness the global economic weight of Hungary, 1950-2018, and all the states of the world that were of similar weight (.4%-.5%) in 1950, based on estimates produced by the Maddison Project.

Of interest to those who are thinking about Hungary, is the dotted line. Starting at .44% of the total world economy, it underwent a secular contraction, reaching its bottom--thus far--in the early nineties (it registered .197% in 1993). It has been hovering between that and the local maximum of .234% in 2005. The rest of the picture is pretty self-explanatory. Check out, e.g., the curves depicting Colombia or Bangladesh.

So, of course Hungary is marginal. Almost no economic weight, extreme high trade dependence, almost zero energy access, now with a war on its eastern borders. It would struggle to be noticed even if it didn't have an extreme authoritarian, right-wing populist government, punch-drunk on its electoral success, with zero foreign policy vision, sense of location or "doctrine."

To those who care about the ever-declining EU--watch Hungary. It will show you your future.