Abstract: The paper deals with the causes of poor implementation of the managerial reform in Hungary. Every state needs to respond to the new global challenges, however, in the former communist countries, like Hungary, the old administrative and political culture hamper the implementation of reforms. The common phenomena of old governance style are the hierarchical management structure, almost exclusively vertical flow of information, strong state-centered decision-making, which is cut off from the public and society and, finally, the over-politicization of the political process, which is not easily replaceable with the new modes of governance.

Keywords: Hungary, hierarchical management structure, state-centered decision-making structure