VIKTOR ORBAN, Hungary’s conservative prime minister, seems an unlikely villain. A firebrand dissident in communist times, he had already served one term as a respectable if somewhat populist prime minister before he led his Fidesz party back into power in 2010. Yet with the implementation on January 1st of a new Hungarian constitution, accompanied by a barrage of new fundamental laws, Mr Orban stands accused by his critics at home and by Hungary’s friends abroad of steering his country back in the direction of a new autocracy.Mr Orban’s supporters claim that the need to sort out an economic mess, clean up corruption and eradicate remaining traces of communism justify his radical approach. They maintain that, because Fidesz won the 2010 election with a two-thirds majority, the government has a mandate to push through big constitutional changes, even if some of these appear illiberal and nationalist. Yet democracy is not just about winning elections. Even a two-thirds majority should not entitle Fidesz to grab power over supposedly independent outfits such as the media regulator, the judiciary, the central bank and...