Hungarian Government Research Articles

Language Attitudes and Policy Preferences: Insights From International Scholarship Applicants to Hungarian Universities

Abstract This study examined the attitudes of individuals seeking scholarships to study abroad, exploring whether their views on languages and language policy models vary based on gender, study programs, and countries. An online survey was administered to approximately 130 Hungarian government scholarship applicants from diverse nations. Statistical methods were employed to analyze responses, revealing variations and correlations between demographic and attitudinal variables. Participants expressed preferences for multilingual and monolingual language policies, aligning with their attitudes. The findings indicate that most participants pursued language learning with instrumental motivation, aiming to achieve educational and career objectives. Most participants expressed a desire for a multilingual language policy model in their home countries. While many embraced the proposal to adopt English as the medium of instruction, others maintained a critical perspective, acknowledging both the positive and negative impacts of English and multilingualism. Additionally, participants underscored the significance of preserving native languages in their respective countries.

헝가리 비(非)자유민주주의적 정책과 유럽연합의 대응

Hungary’s Prime Minister Orbán Viktor and Fidesz came to power by exaggerating the opinions of some disaffected segments of the Hungarian population, particularly by capitalizing on anti-EU sentiment in the election. The Orbán government's policies have been labeled illiberal democracy. Hungary's undemocratic policies are characterized by restrictions on freedom of speech, assembly, and association, negative policies toward LGBT people, and unfriendly policies toward refugees. However, the Hungarian public recognizes the Orbán government's use of undemocratic policies, but supports it because it is accompanied by economic development. The European Union has criticized Hungary's undemocratic political behavior and has used the threat of suspending subsidies to force Orbán to change his policies. Hungary's economic development is largely due to EU support. Without the EU's economic and political support, it would be difficult to see Hungary's economic development in the future, so it is likely that Hungary will be more receptive to the EU's demands. In reality, the Hungarian government has no other alternative than to go against the EU. Of course, this assumes that Hungary's economic growth continues. If the economic situation deteriorates, there is plenty of room for Hungarian public opinion and the Orbán government's attitude to turn sharply anti-European.

헝가리 콘텐츠산업의 확장과 새로운 역할

The aim of this study is to present and analyze how the digital content industry, which is increasingly expanding globally, is developing in Hungary. Hungary has one of the highest proportions of central government spending on culture among the 29 OECD countries. It also has the highest government spending on culture among the 29 EU countries. In light of this, this article focuses on the content industry, which accounts for the largest part of the Hungarian government budget, and analyzes its current status and future development. It also examines the European Union's support for the Hungarian film and broadcasting sector, and discusses Hungary's strengths in the content industry and its expected role in the future.

Turning assertive? EU rule of law enforcement in the aftermath of the war in Ukraine

When dealing with EU’s rule of law (RoL)-related issues, the Commission has often adopted a forbearance approach and the actions taken have crystallised in soft enforcement mechanisms directed at Poland. However, the use of the Conditionality Regulation as an enforcement instrument in 2022 in relation to (lack of) RoL compliance signalled a change into an assertive approach towards Hungary. Why so? This paper argues that exogenous events may change policy priorities and linkage of issues explain this change. Russian aggression against Ukraine prompted a shift in the priorities of member states’ governments making them more receptive towards EU Commission enforcement actions. The Hungarian government’s friendly attitude towards Russia clashes with the position of most member states and the Commission itself. Orban’s partial isolation makes the Commission more willing to exercise RoL enforcement initiatives. Hence, supranational RoL-related forbearance is, at least in critical situations, affected by the calculus of opportunity that the Commission derives from other policy areas. Empirically, the process is traced through official/public documents and statements made by EU actors.

The populist framing of the Russia-Ukraine war by the Hungarian government: convergence or contestation in the EU

ABSTRACT This study examines how the Hungarian government frames the Russia-Ukraine war within the context of its relations with the European Union (EU) using discourse historical strand of critical discourse analysis (CDA). This study will also answer how the Hungarian government presents its own policy choices as if the will of the people in its dealings with the EU. The study will conduct an extensive qualitative frame analysis of political discourses produced by Hungarian government officials. Through this analysis, the current study contributes to the literature empirically and advances the debates revolving around crises leading to contestation between the EU and its member states. The performed analysis demonstrates that the war is communicated mainly through the ‘Hungarian (government) lenses’ of national security concerns and national economic interests, both constructed upon nationalist sentiments coupled with populist overtones, leading Hungary to contest the EU’s decisions and norms.

Historical reflection as a source of inspiration for youth resistance in illiberal regimes – a qualitative study of the FreeSZFE movement in Hungary

ABSTRACT Political socialization of youth is crucial both in the maintenance of an illiberal regime and in the resistance by civil society. The present qualitative study provides insight into the personal motivations of student leaders of a youth resistance movement organized for the protection of academic autonomy against the ‘illiberal democracy’ of Hungary. The study sought to explore how collective historical memory contributes to political socialization, whether historical reflection was a source of inspiration and whether history education triggered conscious citizenship resulting in the engagement of youth in resistance. Data collection involved interviewing 15 former students of the University of Theatre and Film (Színház- és Filmművészeti Egyetem, SZFE) who played a key role in managing a 71 days long university blockade in 2020. Thematic analysis suggests that history education has the potential to trigger consciousness regarding citizens’ responsibility to confront power restricting individual freedoms and institutional autonomy. However, mainstream, alienating history education supported by the government in Hungary did not realize these potentials. Findings can be utilized in further research on the necessity of interactive, engaging history education methodologies to facilitate comparative reflection on history and current public affairs and to encourage conscious and active citizenship in illiberal regimes.

The SDG relevance-presence map of Hungarian SMEs - The relationship between the SDGs and the three pillar model

Hungary is currently in the early stage of its sustainable development endeavours, with notable strides being made since 2022. The study explores the attitudes of the Hungarian small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) towards the sustainable development goals (SDGs). To achieve this, a two-fold methodology is employed. Firstly, the study utilizes the literature research and the Eurostat database to assess the country's SDG indicators. Secondly, an SME questionnaire is designed to gather relevant information regarding the connected organizational attitudes. To visually illustrate the relevance and the presence of SDGs within Hungarian SMEs, an SDG relevance-presence map is developed, to serve as a crucial milestone for formulating strategies centred around sustainable development in this sector. Based on the results, the SDGs in the operation of SMEs are classified into three groups, which categorization can be clearly connected to the three-pillar model. The research not only elucidates the primary associations, but also provides valuable insights to both policy makers and the Hungarian government. Furthermore, these insights shed light on the elements within which concentrated efforts could yield the greatest improvements for the country. Despite the fact that our research was centred on Hungary, the study underscores the broader applicability of our findings.

Hungary in the European Union – Cooperation, Peacock Dance and Autocracy

Abstract Hungary had been one of the frontrunners in the political and economic transition process in Central and Eastern Europe in the 1990s, and in 2004 it joined the European Union. Since 2010, Hungary has gradually become an autocratic regime, a process that has been facilitated by the political benefits of EU integration and money transfers. While the support of the Hungarian people for EU membership has remained high, tensions have increased between the Hungarian government and EU institutions. This article evaluates how the external shock of Russia’s war against Ukraine has shaken Hungary’s so far developed authoritarian equilibrium within the EU. The authors show how embedded the Hungarian autocracy has become and argue that although there have been some effects to the pillars of the authoritarian equilibrium, it has remained stable, and most probably will continue to do so, as long as the illiberal regime stays in power.

Gender, Militarized Masculinity, and Hungarian Illiberalism

Abstract The article explores how gendered relations of power and masculinity are articulated in the Hungarian illiberal government’s rhetorical, legal, and spatial marking of borders and surrounding right-wing discourses in relation to categories of “East”/“West.” After the Hungarian government declared and gradually normalized its illiberal regime, particularly in response to the European refugee crisis in 2015, it passed various anti-migration, anti-gender, and anti-minority laws and policies in the name of defending Hungarians against both the influence of the “feminine” West and the “hyper-masculine” Eastern Other seeking refuge in Hungary. This article examines how the Hungarian government constructs the illiberal state, negotiates its geopolitical position, and propagates illiberal values as “masculine” to articulate and assert its sovereignty against spheres of the “feminized” international, particularly against the West. In parallel with these processes, subnational competing discourses of masculinized sovereignty emerged between the Hungarian government and the mayor of Ásotthalom. By utilizing an intersectional analytical framework, this article maps how these competing discourses of masculinized sovereignty operate at the national and local levels, against the unfolding of the 2015 humanitarian crisis and its aftermath.

Informality as a safety net: civic agency and the crisis of local governments in Hungary

ABSTRACT Most research on post-socialist civil society has focused on analysing the characteristics that explain (the lack of) civic strength. Although recent research has highlighted the rise of urban activism, it has failed to look more closely at the agency of actors. By focusing on informal groups and their engagement in public affairs in the aftermath of the 2019 local elections in Hungary, this paper seeks to unravel the civic strategies and narratives that underpin informal civic resistance to political and institutional pressures at a time when both local municipalities and civil society are experiencing a gradual loss of autonomy.

Relation between the Winning of Fidesz Party with the Number of Incoming Asylum Seekers in Hungary

The migrant crisis that occurred back in 2015 has sparked various political turbulence in European countries. One of the highest “first-time application” countries is Hungary. But as the number of asylum seekers grows, the Hungarian government considered itself overburdened and thus decided to take action to limit the inflow number of asylum-seekers. This situation gives Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his Fidesz Party a way to keep campaigning for anti-immigrant policy which he believes will gain massive support. This journal uses a mixed-research method to find out the relation between the winning Fidesz Party with the number of incoming asylum seekers in Hungary. The analysis will be based on a regression process to determine the correlation between the votes that caused the Fidesz Party to win the last five general elections of Hungary with the quantity of asylum seekers in Hungary during the election year and supported by data observed from literature research.

Nationality and Citizenship : From the Hungarian Minority System to the Adoption of Rwandophones in the Democratic Republic of Congo

"At the dawn of the third decade of inter-communal, inter-ethnic and inter-tribal wars opposing different armed groups to the exhaustion of the public form, the Democratic Republic of Congo has cried out on the roof of the world to denounce the pullers of the strings, without finding the slightest echo of its cries of distress. On the other hand, under the ashes of thousands of deaths and the rape of women and children, the appetites of politicians ready to do anything to satisfy their fantasies flourish. Perhaps it is time to come to our senses and understand that there is no lack of solutions. It is the choices and priorities that come first. We are convinced that peace as an option in the Great Lakes region can be reconciled with the interests of the various decision-makers. The study of the Hungarian minority system serves as a model for designing the conditions or possibilities for a lasting peace in the Congo. If Hungarian solutions have enabled Hungary to solve its internal problems, they could in one way or another be the basis for peace in the DRC. We rely on Hungary's recognition of the national and ethnic minorities existing within its nation and state, on the one hand, and on the other, on the responsibility clauses that commit the Hungarian government to the protection of its various nations outside the borders of the motherland. We must be aware of the national minorities living in the DRC and the need for agreements between their home state and the DRC on the limit of responsibility of the latter. Hoping to obtain results similar to our intentions, we dare to believe that it is possible to reproduce the Hungarian solutions in the Congo. Keywords: nationality, citizenship, national minority, ethnic minority, responsibility clause."

Populist Counterframing of the Climate Movement: The Case of the Hungarian Incumbent Right

The paper’s aim is to understand how the populist right in Hungary answered the challenge of the climate movement, which became a significant issue in the year 2019. The paper answers the research question whether the Hungarian populist right’s narrative reactions differed from non-incumbent populist parties and movements, and to what extent the populist discourse defined these reactions. The paper analyses the content of the conservative, nationally circulated daily newspaper Magyar Nemzet and the government’s press releases between the 2018 general election and November 2020, the onset of the second wave of the Covid-19 in Hungary. The analyses of the identified frames (N = 171) demonstrate that the climate movement was interpreted as the new left, and political interests were suspected of supporting the movement in the background. The accusation of serving hidden political and economic interests and being a new form of the political left served the effort to discredit the climate movement. The results also indicate that the narrative reaction of the Hungarian populist right followed the general communication and policy agenda of the Hungarian government, rather than the inherent discursive patterns of populism. It could be rightly assumed that this interrelation is the consequence of the incumbency and strong centralization of the populist right in Hungary.

Hungarian Army Role 2 Capability

The Fundamental Law of Hungary and the National Military Strategy both state that the Hungarian Defence Forces are responsible for the defence of the independence of the state, and its citizens and enforcement of the state’s interests. Thus, the Hungarian Government decided to extend the capabilities of the Hungarian Defence Forces with a Role 2 field hospital. Being a NATO member country Hungary has decided to join NATO and other joint missions providing both with military force, and logistical and medical support. However, until now, Hungary was not able to support its troops or NATO allied forces with an independent Role 2 level medical facility, which would beable to provide life-saving, limb-saving and function saving surgeries, and short term intensive and postoperative care outside Hungary’s borders as a deployed field hospital. According to the instruction of the Hungarian Government, the planning stage has begun and the first steps of the acquisition process was made. This article guides the reader through the doctrinal and legislative frameworks, the organisational structure, and the facilities and capabilities of the Role 2 field hospital unit.

Financial literacy in Hungarian libraries: Survey-based steps for implementation

In Hungarian libraries, the development of financial literacy (FL) is either not present at all or is very low in intensity. The Hungarian government strategy does not involve libraries in FL development. Based on the dissemination of information and digital literacy, there are numerous good examples worldwide proving that libraries, reaching all of their users, can effectively take part in financial education and, built thereon, business development and business information services. This can increase their social recognition and even supplement their funding. In 2022, for the first time in the country, the authors conducted a survey among Hungarian librarians to assess the current situation, to identify what hinders the expansion of services related to FL, and what tasks should be performed and what innovations should be introduced in libraries. The survey also seeks to define which fields of competence are to be acquired by librarians. It also reveals the forms of external professional cooperation that are necessary to organise library programmes strengthening financial awareness. The results provide valuable information not only for Hungary, but also internationally, since they showcase the challenges that the library system of a former socialist country in Europe faces after three decades of market economy in this current, market- and profit-oriented world.

The Role and Territorial Characteristics of Adult Training on the Integration of Registered Jobseekers into the Labour Market in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County (Hungary), 2010–2020

Abstract The primary aim of adult training for job seekers is to help participants reintegrate into the labour market as soon as possible. The high unemployment rate and the low employment rate in the examined area (Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county) led the Hungarian Government to retrain job seekers. The aim of the study is to examine the spatial pattern of training for registered job seekers and its effectiveness in helping them to find a job in the primary (or secondary) labour market. The research was carried out using secondary data, provided by the Ministry of Innovation and Technology and the National Employment Service in Hungary. Our research has highlighted the territorial links between human resources, adult learning and job opportunities. Adult training and public employment opportunities had a strong impact on the development of the labour market.

Changes to Hungarian Windfall Taxes and Transfer Pricing Rules for 2022 and 2023

The Hungarian government has decided to introduce windfall taxes effective 1 July 2022, allegedly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine. It is arguable, however, that the main reason is the delay in and withdrawal of EU subsidies and the need to replenish budget resources. While the government has stated that these windfall taxes are targeted and temporary, it seems likely that they will persist until at least 2024.

Class Trips beyond Borders: Reimagining the Nation through State-Sponsored Heritage Tourism

AbstractThe article explores how cross-border heritage tourism is promoted in public schools to reimagine Hungary as an ethnically homogeneous nation by incorporating ethnic kin communities that live in neighboring countries. Cross-border heritage tourism has long served to establish strong ties to ethnic diaspora communities that live beyond the territorial borders of the nation-state. National borders in Central and Eastern Europe were repeatedly redrawn across ethnic groups over the twentieth century. Heritage tourism remains a key cultural and economic practice that symbolically questions current national borders and aims to increase the viability of ethnic enclave economies in countries where the given ethnic group is a minority. The article focuses on a large-scale student travel program that was launched by the Hungarian government in 2010, the year that marked the start of a brisk populist turn in Hungarian politics. The program provides funding to public school students for organized class trips to areas of neighboring countries (Romania, Slovakia, Serbia, Croatia, and Ukraine) that belonged to the Hungarian state before World War I. It shows how the Hungarian government mobilizes the public education system to foster a narrow and exclusionary ethnic understanding of cultural membership by selectively overemphasizing Hungarian heritage in regions that have had multi-ethnic, multi-religious, and multicultural histories for centuries. This project extends research on identity-based heritage tourism to show how it has become an integral part of the propaganda toolkit of populist governments.

KEBANGKITAN KEKUATAN NORMATIF TIONGKOK DI EROPA: STUDI KASUS PENGARUH TIONGKOK TERHADAP HUNGARIA DALAM UNI EROPA PASCA INISIASI 16 + 1

Hungary, under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, through various policies, has occupied a unique position as a disruptive actor in the European Union. The EU considers that Hungary is no longer in line with EU values and has created complicated conditions for the EU. One form of Hungarian policy that has had a disruptive impact on the EU is Hungary's political support for China within the EU, even though China is considered a rival of the EU and has differing values than the EU. This research aims to explain why Hungary decided to support China. In this study, the authors use the concept of normative power, which analyzes how an actor can affect what is normal in international relations through the spread of universal values and norms. The author uses this concept to analyze the fulfillment of the characteristics criteria and the distribution factors of normative power. The research finds that Hungary has accepted, implemented, and disseminated China’s promoted values and alternative global politics model. These findings are proven through various policies and statements from the Hungarian government. This acceptance resulted in Hungary's deviation from EU values through various policies, including Hungary's policy of supporting China.

Features of the mechanism for implementation of external state functions: unification of standards of the EU, Ukraine and Hungary

The return of Ukraine to the trajectory of stable development and the solution of rather complex issues of the political spectrum of direction, economic, social issues of the implementation of the external functions of the state, especially in the chronology of today and the difficult interstate relations with Hungary, and not only, requires significant efforts. Currently, the model of legal relations does not demonstrate a wide spectrum of democratic approaches of interests, but we are observing the phantom degraded approaches of the Soviet past on the part of the leadership of the Hungarian government, which openly supports Russian aggression. Examining the characteristic features of Hungary and Ukraine, we can recall the totalitarian socialist past behind their shoulders, which left its negative imprint on the mechanisms and constructions of the implementation of external functions, because as a result of which Hungary, as we can see, began its activities as a full-fledged, independent state. Ukraine, on the other hand, with its uncertainty in 30 years, due to its practically undefined firm position neither with the West nor with the East, demonstrated the illusion of independent state formation, which as a result we have a full-scale destruction of the created illusion of the concept of peace and security, the inviolability of state borders at the cost of terrible bloodshed. In the issue of leveling of contradictions, orientation towards sustainable development and security vectors, under the condition of effective and fair use of a wide range of resources, should be available to democratic countries. One of these possible ways is integration, which is aimed at expanded forms of cooperation in the economy and the military-political sphere. Over the centuries, humanity came to realize the need for peaceful coexistence and cooperation, deepening cooperation between states, peoples, and regions. In our opinion, the European Union is a certain prototype of a state with states. Yes, the EU has its own system of governing bodies, so the EU has its own legislative system, so the EU has its own judicial system. The complexity of such management lies in the number of member states, because any of the participating states should not be discriminated against when making a decision. The system of activity of the Union is extremely complex and institutional. This scientific article attempts to investigate the issue of the complexity of its functioning.