Factorial analysis of the territorial disparities on the southern part of the Romanian – Hungarian border

Abstract

During the socialist era along the Hungarian-Romanian border region there emerged a significant developmental gap which separated a relative more advanced Hungarian side from a backward Romanian one. Using a quantitative methodology, we try to identify territorial disparities of these times on a lower spatial scale – namely on the level of communes – in order to highlight the presumably lagging-behind status of a narrower border strip. According to our hypothesis, this peripheral strip has a disadvantageous status mainly because its increased isolation. The factorial analysis confirmed this fact on the Hungarian side, however it was disproved on the Romanian side because the presence of the large cities and basic infrastructure networks on the proximity of the border. Thus, the paper underlines empirically former conception related to the geographical periphery regions along the border line.