Keywords: Hungary; museum; Holocaust; Nazism; Military History; Ferenc Szalasi; Arrow Cross Party; Hungarian Jews
Public pressure causes a controversial museum in Hungary to close.
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Keywords: cultural scene; LGT; Andras Simonyi; diplomatic scene; policymakers
Once the coolest ambassador from the former Eastern bloc, Andras Simonyi wants to light a fire under the Hungarian film industry.
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In recent months Hungary has figured prominently in the news, partly as the country that currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, but also because of issues of domestic policy, which usually do not arouse much international interest. In general only negative headlines create a big stir. Frequent mention in the press and public opinion can itself be something of a warning.
More...Keywords: European Union; Hungary; enlargement
Between 1990 and 2004, during the EU accession process, opinion research in Hungary showed not only increasing skepticism but also a very abstract imagination in regards to the EU and its institutions. Not only was the ability to imagine the EU difficult, but knowledge about the EU was also limited and rough. This indicated that the European Union does not yet seem to be an “imagined community” for the Hungarians. The protracted debate about the EU enlargement resulted in a lack of confidence in the symbolic position and self-representation of the nation. Parallel to this, Hungary tried to re-draw the mental map of ex-communist Europe and attempted to attain a central economic, social and cultural position in the region. The covers and caricatures of the Hungarian newspapers during the period of the EU accession highly superficially and confusedly revived the old visual narratives on Europe. Another common characteristic of this imagining Europe is ambiguity: all pictures show the emotions of insecurity and dissatisfaction with regard to whether or not Hungarians are “fi t for Europe”. As a result of this, the accession had a mirror effect: in the pictures the European Union is not to be seen; instead one fi nds self-portraits that stress Hungary’s alterity. The only visual novelty – one may regard this just with mixed feelings – is the widening of the discursive horizon toward the USA. It refers to the old-new question of loyalty: which continent, which constellation of power Hungary should prefer?
More...Keywords: Hungary; energy; security; European Union; Russia
This article aims at placing Hungary in the international energy security debate by identifying the conflicting interests present in the country, namely the interests of Russia, the European Union, Germany and the United States. It also tries to analyze the national strategy that should respond to these challenges and, most importantly, reduce external dependence on supplies as well as explore the feasibility of the available solutions.
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Hungarians didn’t settle in wartime America “for the climate”, as Ferenc Molnár famously reminded other exiles in the Plaza Hotel, New York, in 1944. But is climate the reason why today’s Hungarians live where they do? Wars, invasions, rebellions, occupations, and (above all perhaps) peace treaties have moved the country around the map in the centuries since the original Magyar encampment. But the end result is that a highly intelligent people, ethnically, culturally, and linguistically distinct from their neighbors, now inhabit a flat plain with few natural defenses (ideally suited to invasion by horsemen or tanks), surrounded by no fewer than eight countries, of which at least four have a grumbling ethnic or irredentist dispute with Budapest. When the mythical Irishman, giving directions, says “I wouldn’t start from here,” it is seen as a mark of dim-wittedness. So why did Hungarians, perhaps the least dim-witted nation in Europe, outdo him by ending up here (if it wasn’t for the climate)?
More...Keywords: Labour market; foreign employees; territorial inequality.
Employees with Romanian citizenship in Hungary
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Keywords: Hungary; anti-foreign investment; ORTT; Fidesz; EU; NATO; U.S. Vice President Joe Biden; Mercedes-Benz; government of Pecs; foreign direct investment;
It’s a sad state of affairs when Hungary, of all countries, can get labeled anti-foreign investment. But the worries are not entirely misplaced.
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The car-park behind the Fehérvári Road market once held one of the treasures of Communist Hungary, a little ugly metal booth where drunks and homeless people hung around, and which echoed to the boisterous clink of bottles and the rattle of crates, from early morning till late at night. In the mid-1980s, when I first came to Hungary, there was a price tag on almost all bottles, and people dutifully collected them and regularly brought them back to collecting points like this, all over the country. And if a strangeshaped bottle turned up which even the giant-bosomed lady behind the counter did not like the look of, some foreign peanut butter jar or weird former whisky container, the drunks were sure to pounce politely on it, convinced they could find some buyer for it somewhere. In neighbouring Romania, even PET bottles were seen as miraculous when they first appeared. I remember two young hitchhikers near Braşov pleading for my empty mineral water bottle, and insisting I take several new pairs of socks from the factory where they worked in exchange. A vast industry thrived on washing and returning beer, wine, and champagne bottles to circulation. The Communist states seemed light-years ahead of the wasteful west in the green revolution.
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Karl Lamers (born 1951), Deputy Chairman (CDU–CSU) of the Defence Committee of the Bundestag since November 2006, and President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly since November 2010, visited Budapest on 5 October. He met Hungarian Foreign Minister János Martonyi, and was the keynote speaker at the 20th anniversary celebration of the Hungarian Atlantic Council, along with János Martonyi, Minister of Defence Csaba Hende, US Ambassador Eleni Kounalakis, Professor Sylvester E. Vizi, Chairman of the Hungarian Atlantic Council, and Gyula Kodolányi, Founding Chairman (1992–1993) of the Hungarian Atlantic Council. In the wake of that visit, in late October, Gyula Kodolányi, with Hungarian Atlantic Council Deputy Chair Ágnes Szent-Iványi Exton, conducted an interview with Lamers for Hungarian Review, on the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and on German-Hungarian relations.
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Ernő Marosi, ed., On the Stage of Europe. Budapest: Balassi, 2009, 363 pp. (Also in Hungarian and German)
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Keywords: Circulation; international migration; demographic distribution; Hungary; parity analysis;
We measure the demographic patterns associated with international circular migration. Firstly, we define the circulation within the conceptual framework of transnationalism. Secondly, we create macro-scale data bank on long-term international circular movers based on an original statistical method. Thirdly, we seek to gain further insight into the composition of international circular movers by gender, age, and family status. The data are obtained from the Office of Immigration and Nationality. The primary database consists of individual data files on legal immigrants. The results of this research indicate that the long-term circulation (multiple mobility) of foreigners to Hungary as the host country is a mass phenomenon. More than 14 per cent of legal immigrants arriving in Hungary were long-term circulars between 2006 and 2008. Of these registered circular movers, 75.9 per cent entered the country for a second time, 21.6 per cent for a third time, and 2.5 per cent for a fourth time. Conclusions indicate the need for future research.
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Keywords: international retirement migration; migration policy; Hungary;
In general, younger cohorts dominate in the international migration flows, but new form of migration develops, namely, the elderly migration. The old age international movement of people is a migratory phenomenon of the last decades of the 20th century. Parallel with the accelerating ageing process, the share of long-term elderly immigrants has been growing since the middle of nineties in Hungary. In the millennium every tenth long-term immigrants staying in Hungary was 60 years old and over. The share of persons over 60 gaining Hungarian citizenship also increased and stabilised around 12 per cent. The expansion of old-aged immigrants and new citizens is not advantageous under the prevailing legal rules in case of international migration policy preparing utility principles. If the elderly migration to Hungary becomes greater in level, it will be necessary to intervene into the spontaneous process. It is important to state that the emerging problems must be managed in a differentiated manner according to the types of the elderly migrants.
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Keywords: Hungary;migration crisis;Fidesz;Jobbik;campaign;
This paper discusses the unique phenomenon of what role the political debate about Islam, the construction of the temporary border barrier protecting the Hungarian national borders and altering the Hungarian Constitution played in the competitive communicationof the national-radical Jobbik party and the centre-right governing parties Fidesz-KDNP which typically emphasise their Christian character. Furthermore this essay follows up the elements of political campaign related to the referendum on relocation quota between the end of 2014 and November 2016.
More...Keywords: 19th century; Hungarian Revolution; Hungarian historical consciousness; political nationalism;
There can be no doubt that the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 and the subsequent war of independence belong to the events that significantly contributed to the development of modern Hungarian historical consciousness. Decisive alternatives emerged during this critical period: national sovereignty versus development under foreign power, or the cultivation of friendly compromises reached through negotiations versus violent confrontations. The patterns of thinking associated with these choices also imposed their influence on the interpretations of other recent historic turning points such as the events of 1956. For a better understanding of what happened to Hungary during the years 1848 - 1849 we need to divide the events into three distinct but interconnected spheres.
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Keywords: Hungary; welfare state; welfare state regime
This descriptive paper analyses transformations of the welfare state in Hungary. The time of transition brought significant challenges to the post-communist region, putting pressure on the operation of the welfare state. After providing a brief background to the origins of the Hungarian welfare state, this paper interprets the historical-institutional features of the welfare state in Hungary. Particular emphasis is placed on the effects of the transition. The main findings are summarized in the conclusion.
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Keywords: Hungary; migrant crisis; refugee; Viktor Orbán; Péter Szijjártó;
The current article aims to provide an overview of the Hungarian Government’s reaction to the European migrant crisis, which came to a head in 2015. It is an attempt to highlight the moments which were more relevant, along with other o€cials’ comments on Hungary’s actions. It follows events up until the end of the year 2015.
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Keywords: Hungarian Aesthetic Tradition; History of Aesthetics; Georg Lukács;Budapest School; Contemporary Aesthetics;
The paper is meant to introduce a symposium on aesthetics in Hungary today. Through a brief survey of the Hungarian aesthetic tradition, which goes back to the eclectic “university aesthetics” of the late 18th century and produced a number of prominent figures such as Georg Lukács and his disciples in the “Budapest School” in the 20th century, the paper seeks to point out some key characteristics of this tradition and to reflect on the intellectual landscape of contemporary aesthetics in Hungary, diversified by many fields of study, methods and subdisciplines.
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