Business Networks. An Analysis of Influential Businessmen within the Network of the FIDESZ Party in Hungary

Understanding the relations of business and politics is of profound importance. The paper aims to analyze business-related connections among people within the network of FIDESZ, the currently leading political party in Hungary. The authors study the business networks within the boundaries of FIDESZ and identify the most influential businessmen using network research methodology. The main hypothesis, reflecting common knowledge, is that Lajos Simicska is a central point within this business network. The database of ahalo.hu has been used as the main source of data. First the sample FIDESZ business network is analyzed, followed by an analysis of the four biggest business communities identified in it. The article is concluded with the identification of the most influential businessmen of these. The findings of the article fail to support the main hypothesis: according to our findings (1) Péter Kiss, (2) Zoltán Varga, (3) Antal Nagy, (4) Márton Szabó, (5) János Bertalan, (6) Zsolt Nyerges, (7) Lajos Simicska and (8) István Töröcskei are considered to be the eight most influential businessmen of the FIDESZ network (and not Simicska is the most important). Qualitative research carried out in parallel to analyze the business activities of the aforementioned businessmen reveals that the current research can only partially point out the most prominent members of the FIDESZ business network.