The Public Perception of Terrorism and Terror Emergency in Hungary

Abstract

In the past one and a half years the United States and Europe have witnessed several so called strategic terrorist attacks, causing high death tolls, heightened media attention and increased fear. In June 2016 the Hungarian Parliament adopted an amendment of the Basic Law, adding a new emergency situation on terror emergency to the existing ones. The analysis – relying on the public opinion poll conducted by ZRI Závecz Research Ltd. – offers answers to the question: What is the public perception of terrorism and terror emergency in Hungary? The results show that 80% of adult respondents perceive a terrorist threat to Western Europe, 43% to the United States and 40% to Hungary. More than half of the respondents (53%) see the introduction of terror emergency as an extraordinary measure that is necessary to efficiently tackle terrorist threats, about one third (32%) perceive it as the government’s attempt to increase its powers, while 15% did not answer to these questions.