Democracy in Uniform? Equal Treatment and the Hungarian Defense Framework

This article offers a comprehensive evaluation of the Hungarian Defense Act, Act CXIII of 2011, through the lens of equal treatment. Although the Act provides a detailed regulatory structure for national defense, it does not incorporate equality as a guiding legal or institutional principle. Drawing on a normative framework that considers the dimensions of formal and substantive equality, political and economic equality, educational opportunity, empirical sensitivity, needs-based fairness, and the identification of hidden inequalities, the study reveals multiple shortcomings across recruitment, service relations, rights and obligations, promotionstructures, disciplinary mechanisms, welfare systems, and emergency powers. The findings indicate that the Defense Act relies on a narrow concept of formal equality that treats all citizens and soldiers as if they were similarly situated, while ignoring the structural disadvantages that affect women, ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities, and individuals from low-income backgrounds. Restrictions on political and civil rights lack proportionality safeguards, promotion pathways are opaque, welfare systemsreinforce internal hierarchies, and the absence of demographic data prevents the identification of systemic discrimination. Building on jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights and contemporary research in public administration and defense governance, the study proposes a series of legal and institutional reforms designed to integrate equal treatment into the core architecture of national defense. Equality within the armed forces is not only a social or ethical concern. It is a determining factor in institutional legitimacy, professional cohesion, and operational readiness. The article, therefore, argues that the HungarianDefense Act must evolve from a framework that emphasises hierarchy and obligation to one that integrates fairness, transparency, and equal treatment as foundational principles of democratic defense governance.