Editor's note

The Hungarian parliament has passed a law tightening regulations for foreign universities operating in the country that will effectively close down Budapest’s Central European University, which is funded by Hungarian-American billionaire philanthropist George Soros. Whether it will succeed will depend on the legal challenge the university is planning to test the constitutionality of the law.

Diane Stone argues that the avowedly liberal university has become the latest battleground in the country’s “war of ideas” as the government consolidates state power by taking away the independence of public institutions and maximises the wealth and power of particular groups rather than serving the public interest.

Reema Rattan

Global Commissioning Editor

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A rally protests against a new law that could force the Soros-founded Central European University out of Hungary. Laszlo Balogh/Reuters

Central European University has become the battleground in Hungary's war of ideas

Diane Stone, University of Canberra

The Central European University will challenge a law just passed by the Hungarian parliament that could force the closure of the school founded by billionaire philanthropist George Soros.

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