Beyond the Borders
The Hungarian People as a Conflict Factor
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Approximately 2.5 million Hungarians live as national minorities in states bordering Hungary. Budapest’s policy of promoting these communities so that they may preserve their national identity is met with scepticism. Neighbouring countries are concerned that this policy could trigger secessionist efforts. Before accession to the European Union, it had been possible to settle the conflict-laden issue of individual and collective minority rights. Now inter-state tensions have appeared again. Hungary’s passage of a new citizenship law, which allows Hungarians abroad to acquire Hungarian citizenship, and its current confrontational, ethno-nationalist politics of nationhood are responsible for this.
(Osteuropa 12/2011, pp. 255–264)