Hungarian foreign policy from Antall to Gyurcsány
Hungarian foreign policy from Antall to Gyurcsány

Summary/Abstract: If we make a rough sketch of Hungarian foreign policy since 1990, we will see at least two factors that have imposed tight limits on the foreign policy style and activities of both right and left-wing governments. These two factors are connected and fundamental. One is the shock inflicted by the Treaty of Trianon of 1920 that still affects wide circles of Hungarian public opinion – including the intellectuals that shape public discourse. The other is the fact that Hungary – like many other countries – is not a subject but an object of the endless global political changes wrought by the positional struggles of the great powers. (The subject does not ask the object, and in terms of the success of potential resistance it is immaterial whether the reigning Hungarian prime minister is called József Antall, Gyula Horn, Viktor Orbán or Ferenc Gyurcsány.) The article examines these two interconnected and fundamental factors that constrain Hungarian foreign policy and allow it a very limited playing field, and looks at the foreign policies of the five prime ministers of Hungary since the change of regime.

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