Hungarian Minority Research Articles

Hungarian Nationality Ethnic Minorities Living in Poverty and Social Exclusion in Ukraine

AbstractThe purpose of the article is to give an overall description of the situation of Hungarian minority households with children in Ukrainian villages. The region is a marginal area both economically and geographically, being in a peripheral position with little attention falling upon it and even less of the development sources. Furthermore, there is a lack of information on welfare benefits, and no direct statistical data are available on the characteristics of the social policy system.As for the total lack of prior statistics on poverty, this essay is meant to be exploratory to show the area’s poverty features, focusing on the children. By the use of combined data collection, including quantitative and qualitative techniques, we gained information by questionnaire surveys of about 253 children in 139 households. There were carried out 23 exploratory interviews as well. The core of our analysis is the specific labour market situation, the earning opportunities, and forms of employment that provide for livelihoods for the households with children. Besides the backwardness of the area studied in the research, the strategies and life situations that characterize the Transcarpathian Hungarians are also presented, which are beyond the known European forms of poverty.

The Treaty of Trianon as a Source of Instability in the Central-Eastern Europe (Part 1)

The article notes that the Trianon Peace Treaty of June 4, 1920 between the Entente countries and Hungary, as a result of the First World War, turned out to be, like all the other six treaties of the Versailles system, mostly unfair. In the forcibly the territory of Hungary decreased by 2/3, the population decreased 2,7 times, a third of the Hungarian ethnic group became part of neighboring states.
 It is noted that during 1920-2020. In Hungary, there were no powerful political forces of various trends and trends that would recognize the Trianon Peace Treaty as just. At the same time, the ruling political elites of the neighboring states of Hungary considered and still consider the conditions of the Trianon fair. Such opposite assessments of the consequences of Versailles engendered antagonism, making it impossible to reach a compromise between the countries of Central-Eastern Europe.
 Attention is drawn to the fact that during the domination in Europe of the coalition of countries led by Germany of the Versailles Peace Treaty, including the Trianon, were dismantled, a new order was introduced, in which opponents of Versailles – Germany, Italy, Japan, the USSR, played an active role. Hungary, Bulgaria.
 It is noted that the winners of the World War ІІ restored the borders of the countries of Germany’s allies in Europe, in accordance with their own geopolitical interests, which corresponded by 70% to the borders established by the Entente after the World War І. The Trianon borders were restored over Hungary by the Paris Peace Treaty of February 10, 1947. The USSR, Great Britain, France and the United States acted from a hegemonic position, were guided by the right of the winner and in many respects imposed on the defeated countries the conditions of the Versailles system were discredited, did not draw proper conclusions and did not build international relations on principles close to justice, but preserved the complicated territorial contradictions of the past with the corresponding treaties.
 It is indicated that the threat of assimilation and disappearance of foreign Hungarians is one of the main reasons for the revitalization of modern Hungary. Measures to overcome the syndrome of the dismemberment of the Hungarian nation in Central-Eastern Europe have been going on for centuries with little results; The rate of decline in the number of Hungarians in neighboring states over the past century is the highest, so Budapest believes that there is no time to delay the introduction of autonomy for foreign Hungarians, because in the next 25 years the very need for it will disappear through their disappearance.
 It is emphasized that the level of ensuring the rights of the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia especially affects the relationship of Hungary with Ukraine. The improvement of relations between Hungary and Ukraine has minimal chances, since the positions of the parties on the procedure for the application of educational and language laws in Transcarpathia do not coincide.
 Taking into account the decisive activity of Hungary and the Hungarian foreign communities in 2020 (the century of the signing of the Trianon Peace Treaty on June 4, 1920), it is concluded that this problem will not only not lose its relevance, but will significantly increase.

The Educational Migration of Sub-state Ethnic Minorities on the Outskirts of the EU

The goal of this paper is to present an analysis of the status and career choices of Hungarian, Slovak, and Romanian ethnic minority high school graduates in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, the northern province of Serbia. We implemented a purpose-built, paper-based-questionnaire process of data collection that involved 2,192 ethnic minority high school students who were finishing high school in their mother tongues in 16 municipalities in Vojvodina. The results of the analysis showed that almost 40 per cent of the sample of ethnic minority high school graduates planned to leave Serbia to study in their mother tongues in nearby European Union (EU) countries. While this brain drain is not a new trend, our research shows that there are new and different reasons for it and it was caused by the insufficiency of Serbian language skills of the ethnic minority studnets. The results of the research show that the main reason for this educational migration is thus the aspiration to obtain a diploma from an EU-based institution, which (1) grants immediate access to the EU’s integrated labor market, and (2) is perceived to improve social status compared to that of remaining in Serbia after graduating. Despite this new motive for educational migration, language barriers are still relevant determinants of the latter. A gender-sensitive analysis of the responses was undertaken that showed that there are gender-based differences in terms of which students continue their studies after high school, and in the reasons for staying in Serbia.

“Otherness” in America: Hemingway, Hungarians, and Transnationalism

Volatility regarding negotiated subject positions features prominently in Hemingway’s works. Yet, his portrayal of Hungarians in the vignette of Chapter VIII and the short story entitled “The Revolutionist” (both found in the collection of In Our Time, 1925) underlines 1920s America’s unwillingness to modify preconceived stereotypes about the “other.” Both stories have attracted considerable attention among scholars who have analyzed these texts from such perspectives as political ideology and the arts. Aiming to fill a gap in literary criticism, I shall examine the narrative representation of stereotypical approaches to the Hungarian minority with emphasis on societal expectations set by white, Anglo-Saxon, middle-class men in the United States during the 1920s. The values they propagated in society illustrate that the Roaring Twenties was an openly discriminatory decade in which ignoring and sometimes literally attacking the “other” for deviating from the prescribed norms of the era was acceptable. Anxiety about the “other” uncovers a great deal of national insecurity; America’s battle with foreigners merges into a battle with itself.

Угорський автономізм на Закарпатті: сучасні реалії

У статті проаналізовано особливості сучасного стану політизації угорської національної меншини в Україні. Автор розглядає сучасний стан політизації угорців Закарпаття. Підкреслюється, що захист своєї меншини Угорщина просуває не тільки в Україні, однак, і в Австрії, Румунії, Словаччині, Сербії та Хорватії, в контексті ідеї «відродження Угорщини». Розкрито особливості автономістських прагнень Закарпаття, в цілому, та угорської меншості, зокрема. Виокремлюється важливий вплив економічного стану регіону на активізацію автономістських тенденцій. Автор акцентує увагу на винятковому значенні питання подвійного громадянства угорської національної меншини на території України, що посилює відцентрові тенденцій у регіоні. Проаналізовано інші обставини та чинники які є вагомими та суттєво впливають на політизацію угорської національної меншини, розвиток дискурсу стосовно відмінного бачення політичного майбутнього регіону.

Mniejszość węgierska w polityce rządu Republiki Słowackiej w latach 1993‑1998

The Hungarian Minority in the Policy of the Government of the Slovak Republic in 1993‑1998 
 The article deals with the analysis of the policy of the Slovak Republic government towards the Hungarian minority in 1993‑1998. This is the period of the first five years of the country’s existence on the political map of Europe. During this period, Vladimír Mečiar (twice) and Jozef Moravčík served as prime ministers. The study is based on the assumption that in the analyzed period the policy of the Slovak authorities towards the Hungarian minority affected the tense relations between the Slovak Republic and the Republic of Hungary. In addition, it had a decisive impact on slowing down the process of Slovakia’s accession to the North Atlantic Alliance and the European Union. The method of decision analysis found its application in the study, which allowed the presentation of situations and processes that are the culmination of decisions taken by representatives of the Slovak authorities. The institutional and legal method allowed to analyze multilateral and bilateral agreements to which the Slovak Republic was a party, and legal acts.

Relacje węgiersko-rosyjskie za rządów Viktora Orbána w latach 2010–2019

The article is devoted to the conditions and interrelations characteristic of the Hungarian-Russian relations under the premiership of Viktor Orbán from 2010 when he took the position of prime minister. The study presents the genesis of establishing contacts with Moscow and the reasons for which Orbán decided to limit economic relations with Western states. There is also a description of the Hungarian-Russian relations after the annexation of the Crimea, contacts with Ukraine, tensed due to the problem of the Hungarian minority, and also an issue of American-Hungarian relationship in the context of connections between Moscow and Budapest. The text also sheds light on the questions of economic relations between the two states, being the very essence of their mutual cooperation, especially in the area of energy supply.

Prejudices and their healthcare implications. Lessons learnt from a national survey.

Introduction: The presence and recognition of prejudice during care were examined among healthcare professionals towards the Roma population, the largest ethnic minority in Hungary. Aim: The aim of this study was to explore the extent to which prejudice in the Hungarian healthcare system might affect the quality of care and, thereby, the health of the Roma patients. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted between June 2017 and May 2018 with 13 interviewees. Qualitative methods were applied to analyse the transcripts. Results: Our respondents generally confirmed the presence of prejudices in the healthcare system. Prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory behaviour are less common in wards where the prevalence of disadvantaged patients (HIV-positive, homeless) is high (e.g., infectology). Prejudice is not specifically directed at the Roma ethnic minority, but also extends to populations living under poor socio-economic conditions, or with underlying self-destructive behaviour (alcoholism, drug use). In the opinion of our interviewees, occasional prejudicial behaviour does not lead to sub-standard care, but, on the contrary, to positive discrimination. Prejudice does not directly lead to poorer health, but it cannot be ruled out that it may indirectly contribute to it, in the case if the patient does not seek medical attention due to a former negative experience within healthcare. Conclusion: Our results confirmed the occasional presence of prejudice against the Romas in the healthcare system, however, this may not directly contribute to Romas' poorer health status. Our results also highlighted the importance of prevention, including the education of both parties and the prevention of the burnout of care providers. Orv Hetil. 2020; 161(19): 789-796.

Books or babies? The incapacitation effect of schooling on minority women

This paper examines the effects of an increase in the compulsory school leaving age on the teenage fertility of Roma women, a disadvantaged ethnic minority in Hungary. We use a regression discontinuity design identification strategy and show that the reform decreased the probability of teenage motherhood among Roma women by 13.4–26.0% and delayed motherhood by 2 years. We separate the incapacitation and human capital effects of education on fertility by exploiting a database that covers live births, miscarriages, abortions, and still births and contains information on the time of conception. We find that longer schooling decreases the probability of getting pregnant during the school year but not during summer and Christmas breaks, which suggests that the estimated effects are generated mostly through the incapacitation channel.

Educational Tourism and Nation Building: Cross-border School Trips in the Carpathian Basin

Educational travel provides opportunities for participants to explore specific issues in unconventional ways. In Hungary, primary and secondary schools organise annual study trips as part of their curricula. The aim of these trips is to familiarise students with the main sights of the country, and to bring to life national narratives discussed in lessons. Furthermore, these trips often play a key role in students’ socio-psychological development, both as future tourism consumers and as future citizens. Recognising the opportunity to influence students’ worldview and way of thinking during their sensitive teenage years, the Hungarian government has created a national programme to financially support school trips organised to visit minority Hungarian communities living in the neighbouring countries. This paper is based on the content analysis of 256 detailed reports submitted by participants of school trips organised in 2013/14 with the aim to visit Hungarian minority communities in the Carpathian Basin. The analysis focuses on the detailed descriptions of the participants’ personal memories of their experiences, the social construction of the visited destinations, and the influences of their memorable experiences on their sense of national identity. The research disclosed that the trips made to Hungarian territories outside the borders contributed to shaping the national sentiment of the students participating in the programme. The findings suggest that participation in tourism is an effective means to experience nationhood and national identity, by financially supporting school trips abroad, the state is able to exert political influence over national consciousness.

Kde sa chodí voliť? Faktory ovplyvňujúce geografické rozloženie volebnej účasti v slovenských parlamentných voľbách

The main objective of the research was to test the predictive ability of five voter turnout theories in the conditions of Slovak society (the societal modernization theory, the theory of disenchanted voting, the socioeconomic status theory, the mobilization theory and the theory of habitual voting). To test the predictive ability of theories, three hypotheses were formulated and verified using quantitative methods such as multiple regression analysis and additional univariate statistical analyses. The results have shown that all five theories are relevant for explanation of the map of electoral participation in Slovakia. However, the interpretative contribution of individual theories has changed over time. While the theory of disenchanted voting was very relevant for explanation of regional differences in voter turnout in the 1990s and early 2000s, the societal modernization theory and the socioeconomic status theory gained more interpretative power in the 2010s. It was indicated by a significant contribution of independent variables such as the proportion university graduates or the net migration rate to the regression models for turnout. The effect of mobilization theory has been observed in the case of a positive contribution of the variable “the share of Roman Catholics in municipality” to the regression models, which has been steadily rising since 2006. On the contrary, the share of Roma population in municipality has been influencing the electoral turnout in a negative way. It can be interpreted as a sign of resignation on the opportunity to use elections to achieve collective objectives among the Roma community. However, the share of Roma population in municipality can also be a proxy for some other variables, such as the poverty rate, thanks to ecological fallacy of the regression models. The electoral turnout in the Hungarian-speaking municipalities has changed significantly in the last two parliamentary elections, from regions with significantly above-average turnout to regions with below-average turnout. It can be explained, in part, by a split among political parties representing Hungarian minority in Slovakia, following the mobilization theory. Finally, the high turnout in small municipalities and the significantly positive contribution of the share of seniors to regression models have proved the explanatory power of the habitual voting theory in contemporary Slovakia. The process of transition of voter behavior in Slovakia is geographically uneven, as is witnessed by a greater validity of modernization and socioeconomic status theories in the western regions and the theory of habitual voting and mobilization theory in the eastern regions. The explanation of regional and local differences in electoral participation is becoming more similar to models observed in the West European democracies. However, significant differences remain, which is one of the reasons for close observation of the electoral participation map of Slovakia in a future geographical research.

Mixed Marriages in Romania – The Case of the Hungarian Minority

Ethnically mixed marriages represent a crucial element for ensuring cohesion within communities characterised by a high diversity. This paper aims to point out the main factors that influence the likelihood of mixed marriages in areas from Romania where Romanians and Hungarians cohabitate. In this respect, anonymised census microdata are used. The study reveals that educational attainment, age difference between spouses and the number of Hungarians within the locality/village or municipality might have a significant effect on the likelihood of a person to engage in an ethnically mixed marriage. The effects are slightly different for men and women.

Parliamentary representation of minorities in romania: current challenges

Presented article is prepared within the Research Project “Law of Political Parties” held by the faculty of Law and International Relations of Georgian Technical University. Тhe purpose of the article is to analyze the main mechanisms that guarantees the parliamentary representation of national and ethnic minorities in Romania. Authors review in detail the correlation of concept of equality principle and positive discrimination in regard with national and ethnic minorities. Clear distinction is given between Hungarian minority, as a successfully political movement and all other minorities, which were able to gain mandates only through positive discrimination. In conclusion authors underline some advantages of Romanian electoral system, but also refer to weaknesses, which should be eliminated and suggest some recommendations for possible improvements.

Producing the nation through philanthropy: Legitimising coethnic and prorefugee civic action in Hungary

AbstractThis paper explores interconnections between nationhood and philanthropy, namely, how philanthropy works as a domain of meaningful social practice framed by national ideologies and how interpretations born in the institutional contexts of philanthropy may play a central role in making sense of the nation. We observe how various divisions inherent in philanthropic practices—between helpers and the helped and between those who take part in helping as opposed to those who do not—become reflected in concepts of nationhood shaped by these activities. The study of two cases—first, the philanthropic actions of Hungarian citizens towards Hungarian minority communities in Ukraine and Romania, and second, humanitarian volunteer initiatives aimed at supporting refugees during the summer of 2015 in Hungary—makes it possible to understand how philanthropic practices become a site for reproducing competing definitions of nationhood.

Populist Nationalism and the Challenges of Divided Nationhood: The Politics of Migration, Mobility, and Demography in Post-2010 Hungary

This article uses the case of post-2010 Hungary to investigate the ways in which the concomitant trends of mobility, migration, and demographic decline may intersect to both challenge and bolster the discourses and policies of nationalist, populist governments in Central and Eastern Europe today. Using an expanded conception of “divided nationhood,” it explores the tensions and continuities in the Hungarian government’s populist discourse of protecting the nation as it is projected onto different national populations: Hungarians within Hungary, Hungarian emigrants, and Hungarian minorities in neighboring countries. While fears of migration and population decline provide useful fuel for the particular brand of populist nationalism we see in places like Hungary, the ability of leaders to offer a coherent and effective narrative of protection for the nation becomes significantly more complex when there are multiple internal and external populations to protect. The article highlights the strategies that the FIDESZ government has employed in order to (1) mobilize antimigrant rhetoric while marginalizing Hungarian emigrants; (2) respond to demographic deficiencies while supporting a conservative, populist narrative; and (3) maintain its access to symbolic, political, and demographic resources within the Hungarian minority communities. These strategies include a discursive reconceptualization of migration as something that comes only from outside Europe, the use of social and economic policies to selectively privilege key segments of the nation and exclude others, and the creation of a regional Hungarian nation with Budapest at the center.

Cultural Autonomy in Hungary: Inward or Outward Looking?

AbstractSince the late 1980s, the interpretations of policy toward Hungary’s minorities—most notably the country’s 1993 minority law and the minority self-governments established as part of a system of nonterritorial autonomy (NTA)—have been the subject of debates in politics and academia in at least two critical respects. Aside from the declarative character of the law, foremost has been the question of Hungary’s kin-state activism toward Hungarians abroad and the implications this has carried for domestic minority issues. A second—and related—question has concerned the extent to which cultural autonomy and minority rights are in accordance with the needs of the Roma, by far the country’s largest ethnic minority group. A growing number of scholars have accepted the argument that the minority law was enacted because of concerns regarding Hungarian minorities living in the neighboring countries. In our view, it is more appropriate to ask instead how Hungary’s kin-state policies have influenced the opportunities for domestic groups, and, in particular, how Hungary fits into the broader context of post-Communist state- and nation-building projects. This is the approach we take in this article, which aims to unpack and reconcile the complex and seemingly contradictory findings on the Hungarian case. Our conclusions are drawn from a content analysis of parliamentary debates on the minority law—something that has never previously been undertaken. This is supplemented by semi-structured interviews with former and current politicians and minority activists.

Fancsaly É., Gúti E., Kontra M., Molnár Ljubić M., Oszkó B., Siklósi B., Žagar Szentesi O. A magyar nyelv Horvátországban / szerk. M. Kontra. Budapest: Gondolat; Eszék: Media Hungarica Művelődési és Tájékoztatási Intézet, 2016. 306 o. [Fancsaly É., Gúti E., Kontra M., Molnár Ljubić M., Oszkó B., Žagar Szentesi O. The Hungarian Language in Croatia / ed. M. Kontra. Budapest:

The review sheds light on the collective monograph published in 2016 by Hungarian and Croatian linguists on the sociolinguistic situation of the Hungarian community in Croatia, which is a continuation of the book series “Hungarian language in the Carpathian basin in the 20th century”. The monograph is an example of a quantitative study. The authors conducted an extensive questionnaire survey using participants from eight localities in Croatia. As a result, the following elements of the language situation were analyzed: language use in various fields, language prestige, and bilingual education. It is revealed that the number of Hungarians during the 20th century decreased rapidly. Fifteen variables were selected for linguistic analysis of the data, and these were chosen to reflect the most peculiar contact and dialect features in the speech of community under scrutiny. Unlike other regions with a Hungarian minority, there were many Hungarians in Baranja and Slavonia who stayed for a long time outside their homeland, but because of the war in the 90s they were forced to move to Hungary. Among all the rural communities, the most archaic dialects are found in four villages with Reformed populations in Slavonia, while in Catholic villages the Hungarians are descendants of later settlers from Bačka and from today’s Hungary and are thus more modern. The book will be of interest to linguists, ethnologists, and specialists in sociolinguistics.

Social-political and social-economic transformation of the Slovak Republic

The way of the Slovak Republic (SK) towards democracy and market economy appeared to be very hard. Starting position for implementation of reforms objectively was less favorable in comparison with the neighboring countries. The fundamental law of the SK guaranteed political pluralism, civil rights and liberties for citizens. In 2004 the state became a full member of the EU and NATO. In 2005 main macroeconomic indices of the state reached a threshold level, established by the Maastricht Treaties, and as to the rate of GDP increase and direct foreign investment Slovakia joined the EU leaders. Along with the achievements in the political life of the country there are also serious continuous problems. Among them are: irredentist attitudes among the Hungarian minority which fuel conflict potential in the Slovak-Hungarian relationship; hardships of social integration of the Roma population. An acute problem is corruption, the level of which is higher than in other Visegrad countries. Aiming at formation of conditions for stable continuous growth Slovakia carries out a “reset” of the economic policy. Large-scale reforms of the social system and social policy in SK have been implemented.

Polyglossia in modern Hungarian literature: diversity of authors’ strategies

The article illustrates the major trends and strategies in employing multilingualism in Hungarian literature, especially that written by authors born and raised in the countries that surround Hungary in areas populated by polylingual groups including Hungarian-language minorities, as well as in texts describing ‘internal’ multilingualism within Hungary. The author explores the tendency of using multilingualism in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries as a method and medium of expression, and provides examples of how authors shift from merely stating the facts of polylingual speech and avoiding foreign language inclusions to keep up with mainstream Hungarian literature, to including foreign words, phrases and whole fragments from other languages into their Hungarian texts, while reflecting on the multi/transcultural environment that Hungarian minorities have inhabited over the last hundred years. The article reviews prose by Hungarian authors, who were either born in Hungary or in neighbouring countries (and who later moved to Hungary). The article features excerpts from works previously not translated into Russian, thus allowing the reader to get a closer look at the versatile and polycentric Hungarian literature created in the environment of the national literature of Central and Eastern Europe.

The Role of Incumbency, Ethnicity, and New Parties in Electoral Volatility in Slovakia

This paper analyzes electoral volatility in the 2020 Slovak elections at the level of individual voters using exit poll surveys. The availability of exit polls from the previous elections of 2012 and 2016 allows us to put the 2020 election in context and analyze the patterns (and deviances from them) observed across the three elections. Furthermore, the paper summarizes the aggregate volatility since 1992, demonstrating a high level of net volatility with peaks of over 30 percent. As for the individual level, the analysis concentrates on three important issues in volatility research: (1) vote losses of government parties and the incumbent effect; (2) the role of new parties in mobilization of previous non-voters and first-time voters; (3) since Slovakia is a country with a significant Hungarian minority, special attention is given to vote switching by Hungarian voters and more general patterns of ethnic voting.