Ideology, Organization, Opposition: How Domestic Political Strategy Shapes Hungary’s Ethnic Activism
Ideology, Organization, Opposition: How Domestic Political Strategy Shapes Hungary’s Ethnic Activism

Summary/Abstract: The contention of this article is that transnational ethnic affiliations, as represented by offi cial and unoffi cial diaspora policies, are used by kin-state elites to further domestic political goals. I argue that Hungary’s increasingly interventionist policy towards ethnic Hungarians beyond its borders from the late 1970s to the 1990s was driven primarily by the political strategies of right-wing elites. These elites utilized and co-opted transnational ties with their co-ethnics in neighboring countries in order to further their own political goals. Specifically, engagement with the diaspora issue provided these elites with symbolicallycharged ideological content and legitimacy, organizational resources, and the ability to shift the alignment of political power through oppositional politics and issue deflection. The article traces the domestic political uses of transborder nationalism over time, focusing on three periods in Hungarian politics when kin-state politics intensified: the late decades of communism, the early years of democratic transition, and the ascendancy of FiDeSZ in the late 1990s.

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