Filantrópia vagy plutokrácia? A Soros-realizmustól a Soros-tervig
Philanthropy or plutocracy? From Soros Realism to the Soros Plan

Summary/Abstract: Following the regime change of 1989/1991, the cultural infrastructure has also undergone significant transformation in most Eastern European countries. Two "foreign", i.e. transregionally and transnationally operating donor organisations have played a significant role in this transformation: the Soros Foundation (later Open Society Foundations / OSF) and the ERSTE Foundation. Their initiatives have led to the creation and increasing professionalisation of the field of contemporary arts in the region. Given that the organisations in question have provided corporate philanthropy, a potential tension arises between the progressive social content of the objectives promoted on the one hand, and the more conservative economic policies enabling the wealth being donated, on the other. This is particularly relevant in the case of the Soros Foundation/OSF, which, unlike the ERSTE Foundation, has a decades-long history of political philanthropy and currently efficiently advocates, on a global level, a range of progressive social causes. This paper explores this tension and weighs the kind of democratic deficit inherent in philanthropy, especially in its politically motivated forms.

• Details
• Contents