Moving Politics Beyond the State: The Hungarian Minority in Slovakia
Moving Politics Beyond the State: The Hungarian Minority in Slovakia

Summary/Abstract: Whilst elaborating identity politics in the new European space, theoretically, the empirical focus of this article is on the changing relations between majorities and minorities in Central Europe, generally, and in Slovakia, specifically. The underlying premise is that European integration alters the meaning of “the nation”, the state and territory, and that there is a discernible shift from politics at the state level to a regional one, and with that a change in identity politics vis-à-vis new institutions and geographies. The question is whether this shift is accompanied by the re-emergence of ethno-regions, i.e. political/geographic entities beyond and “across” state level. Democracy and identity within the state form a contradictory relationship, whereby democracy suffers from the monopolisation of political and cultural activity by the dominant group. The Slovak-Hungarian relationship is a prime example of this dynamic. Thus, this article proposes the following points: a) that democracy may need “rescuing” from the confines of the nationstate and hence, b) a number of hypotheses about politics beyond the state. These hypotheses are then tested against a small survey conducted among the Hungarian minority in the Slovak-Hungarian border regions. The evidence provided here suggests that the EU opens new possibilities to move politics beyond the state, and in the process it removes some identity-related challenges to democracy within the state.

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