Suchergebnisse

The signs of a definite anti-pluralist turn in the politics of some newly democratized countries in Europe are growing. The paper describes the present Hungarian political situation since the 2010 election. Due to a landslide electoral victory of the Hungarian Civic Union - Fidesz, the new government felt free to rearrange the whole constitutional and political system. Earlier institutions of control over the government have been restrained. The declared need for a 'strong state' in a crisis situation seemed to justify a resort to some authoritarian tendencies of the Hungarian past. The paper analyzes the political and ideological features that endanger the guaranties of rights and the achieved political pluralism. It deals with changes of the constitution and the role of the Constitutional Court, the much debated new media law, the constrained autonomy of interest organizations and local self-governments, and the decisive change of the electoral system. The paper analyses also presumable reasons for this anti-pluralist turn, weighing simple path-dependency in the political culture against the impact of the contemporary economic crisis. It stands in for the pluralist democratic engagement of 1989 that should be saved under the new challenges of the contemporary crisis. Adapted from the source document.

The study describes the process & the political circumstances of the EU-accession of Hungary. Already through the economic reforms in the first half of the eighties Hungary strove for a rapprochement to the European Community. After 1989 during the system transformation, the general political slogan became "turning back to Europe." Having overcome an initial period of historical argumentation & moral & political motivation, the reconstruction of political democracy & market economy paved the way to the accession to the EU. Despite of alternating governments & a changing party landscape Hungary developed into one of the most stable democracies of the CEE countries. In 1996-98 the government settled the disputes over borders & minorities with the neighbouring countries. In 1998 the country became a member of NATO & thus a stabilising element in the Central European region. Fundamental economic reforms, privatisation & influx of foreign direct investment brought about sustainable economic growth. Since the beginning of the negotiations with the EU in 1998, Hungary was in a kind of leading position & made great progress in meeting the accession criteria. The study introduces the main players in the accession process. It stresses the consensus among the main political forces in the question of EU-accession & discusses some debated issues of the accession strategy like minority problems, the agricultural crisis, immigration, & media policies. The study also deals with the changing public attitudes in the country concerning European Integration: from the high floating EU-phoria at the beginning of the nineties through partly disappointment & reservations at the turn of the century to sober attitudes, demonstrating a continuous &, in the last period nowadays even further increasing support for EU Membership with the successful referendum. Tables, Graphs, References.