Abstract
Negotiations leading to the sustainable development goals (SDGs) have dominated the diplomacy of global development in the past years. The paper looks at the actions and motivations of a relatively new development actor, Hungary, which co-chaired the United Nations General Assembly’s Open Working Group on SDGs, and thus had a highly visible position during the talks. Hungary had a key priority of having a SDG on water-related issues, driven mainly by its perceived comparative advantage in the sector. Using the insights of the literature on small state influence in multilateral negotiations, the paper argues that Hungarian diplomats used alliance building as well as reputational and framing strategies to counter the structural disadvantages of the country’s small state status, and were successful in shaping the final outcome. However, the Hungarian government did not act out of a strong commitment to sustainable global development, but rather used the forum to brand itself as an expert on water issues, with the hope of future business benefits.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
For research on the strong similarities (and also differences) between emerging European donors, see Szent-Iványi and Lightfoot (2015).
Unless otherwise noted, interviews were conducted in person. To ensure that interviewees were not influenced by their superiors or colleagues, questions were not made available beforehand. In order to cross-check statements of government officials, a number of representatives from civil society organisations were also interviewed. For reasons of confidentiality, all interviewees remain anonymous.
These numbers refer only to the MFA’s foreign assistance budget. Due to the increase in compulsory multilateral commitments, the total decrease in Hungary’s official development assistance figures was much less drastic (Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2014, p. 38).
Other groups which Hungary joined included the Sustainable Energy for All Group, the Accessible and Sustainable Financing for Everyone Group and the Culture in Sustainable Development Group.
‘Water-related risk management—the impact of human intervention on water’ in February 2012, and ‘Water in MDG’s’ in April 2012.
References
Archer, Clive, and Neill Nugent. 2006. Introduction: Does the size of Members States matter in the European Union? Journal of European Integration 28 (1): 3–6.
Arter, David. 2000. Small state Influence Within the EU: The Case of Finland’s Northern Dimension Initiative. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies 38 (5): 677–697.
Ágh, Attila. 2016. The Decline of Democracy in East-Central Europe. Problems of Post-Communism 63 (5–6): 277–287.
Benczes, István. 2011. Market Reform and Fiscal Laxity in Communist and Postcommunist Hungary: A Path-Dependent Approach. International Journal of Emerging Markets 6 (2): 118–131.
Bhattacharya, Debapriya, Towfiqul Khan, and Umme Salma. 2014. A Commentary on the Final Outcome Document of the Open Working Group on SDGs. SAIS Review of International Affairs 34 (2): 165–177.
Bozóki, A. 2015. Broken Democracy, Predatory State, and Nationalist Populism’. In The Hungarian Patient. Social Opposition to an Illiberal Democracy, ed. Péter Krasztev, and Jon Van Til, 3–36. New York: CEU University Press.
Budapest Water Summit. 2013a. A Sustainable World is a Water Secure World, the Budapest Water Summit Statement, 11 October 2013.
Budapest Water Summit. 2013b. Outcomes of Budapest Water Summit Presented at Friends of Water Meeting. www.budapestwatersummit.hu/budapest-water-summit/news/outcomes-of-budapest-water-summit-presented-at-friends-of-water-meeting-488. Accessed 10 November 2015.
Buzogány, Aron. 2017. Illiberal Democracy in Hungary: Authoritarian Diffusion or Domestic Causation? Democratization. https://doi.org/10.1080/13510347.2017.1328676.
Chandler, David. 2007. The Security-Development Nexus and the Rise of “Anti-Foreign Policy”. Journal of International Relations and Development 10 (4): 362–386.
Crandall, Matthew, and Ingrid Varov. 2016. Developing Status as a Small State: Estonia’s Foreign Aid Strategy. East European Politics 32 (4): 405–425.
Dodds, Felix, David Donoghue, and Jimena Leiva Roesch. 2017. Negotiating the Sustainable Development Goals: A Transformational Agenda for an Insecure World. Abingdon: Routledge and Earthscan.
Doeser, Fredrik. 2011. Domestic Politics and Foreign Policy Change in Small States: The Fall of the Danish Footnote Policy. Cooperation and Conflict 46 (2): 222–241.
Farrell, Mary. 2017. Group Politics in Global Development Policy: From the Millennium Development Goals to the Post-2015 Development Agenda. The Hague Journal of Diplomacy 12: 221–248.
Friends of Water. 2012a. Recommendations for Rio (‘10 Commandments’). Steering Committee of the Group of Friends of Water. www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/pdf/11_05_2012_friends_of_water_recommendations.pdf. Accessed 10 November 2015.
Future We Want. 2012 Outcome Document Adopted at Rio + 20. www.uncsd2012.org/content/documents/727The%20Future%20We%20Want%2019%20June%201230pm.pdf. Accessed 20 November 2015.
Easterly, William. 2015. The SDGs Should Stand for Senseless, Dreamy, Garbled’, Foreign Policy. foreignpolicy.com/2015/09/28/the-sdgs-are-utopian-and-worthless-mdgs-development-rise-of-the-rest/. Accessed 20 November 2015.
Enyedi, Zsolt. 2016. Paternalist Populism and Illiberal Elitism in Central Europe. Journal of Political Ideologies 21 (1): 9–25.
European Commission. 2013. A Decent Life for All: Ending Poverty and Giving the World a Sustainable Future, COM(2013) 92 Final. Brussels: European Commission.
European Union. 2013. Speaking Points on Water and Sanitation. Meeting of the General Assembly Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, New York, 22–24 May. sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/3849eu2.pdf. Accessed 12 December 2015.
Field, Richard. 2015. Hungarian Politicians, Experts Discuss Foreign Policy Issues. Budapest Beacon, 12 March.
Fukuda-Parr, Sakiko, and David Hulme. 2011. International Norm Dynamics and the “End of Poverty”: Understanding the Millennium Development Goals. Global Governance 17: 17–36.
General Assembly. 2013 Open Working Group of the General Assembly on Sustainable Development Goals. Methods of Work. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/1692OWG_methods_work_adopted_1403.pdf. Accessed 20 November 2015.
Global Landscapes Community. 2014 Final Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals Reaches Consensus. www.landscapes.org/final-open-working-group-on-sustainable-development-goals-reaches-consensus/. Accessed 20 November 2015.
Grøn, Caroline Howard, and Anders Wivel. 2011. Maximizing Influence in the European Union after the Lisbon Treaty: From Small State Policy to Smart State Strategy. Journal of European Integration 33 (5): 523–539.
Hey, Jeana (ed.). 2003. Small States in World Politics. London: Lynne Rienner.
Hoadley, J.Stephen. 1980. Small States as Aid Donors. International Organization 34 (1): 121–137.
Horký-Hlucháň, Ondřej, and Simon Lightfoot. 2015. Development Cooperation of the ‘New’ EU Member States, Beyond Europeanization. London: Springer.
Jacoby, Wade, and Umut Korkut. 2016. Vulnerability and Economic Re-oreintation. Rhetoric and in Reality in Hungary’s “Chinese Opening”. East European Politics and Societies 30 (3): 496–518.
Jakobsen, Peter V. 2009. Small States, Big Influence: The Overlooked Nordic Influence on the Civilian ESDP. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies 47 (1): 81–102.
Johnson, Juliet, and Andrew Barnes. 2015. Financial Nationalism and Its International Enablers: The Hungarian Experience. Review of International Political Economy 22 (3): 535–569.
Kassimeris, Christos. 2009. The Foreign Policy of Small Powers. International Politics 46: 84–101.
Kim, Soyeun, and Hanee Kang. 2015. Young and Dynamic?—The Curious Case of Korea’s National Level Post-2015 Process. Journal of International Development 27: 776–800.
Keohane, Robert. 1969. Lilliputians’ Dilemmas: Small States in International Politics. International Organization 23 (2): 291–310.
Kornai, János. 2015. Hungary’s U-Turn: Retreating from Democracy. Journal of Democracy 26 (3): 34–48.
Knudsen, Olav Fagelund. 1996. Analysing Small-State Security: The Role of External Factors. In Small States and the Security Challenge in the New Europe, ed. Werner Bauwens, Armand Clesse, and Olav F. Knudse, 3–20. London: Brassey’s.
Lamoreaux, Jeremy W. 2014. Acting Small in a Large State’s World: Russia and the Baltic States. European Security 23 (4): 565–582.
Lee, Donna, and Nicola Smith. 2010. Small State Discourses in the International Political Economy. Third World Quarterly 31 (7): 1091–1105.
Lundsgaarde, Erik. 2013. The Domestic Politics of Foreign Aid. London: Routledge.
Maass, Mathias. 2009. The Elusive Definition of the Small States. International Politics 46 (1): 65–83.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 2014. Magyarország nemzetközi fejlesztési együttműködésére vonatkozó szakpolitikai stratégiája és nemzetközi humanitárius segítségnyújtására vonatkozó szakpolitikai koncepciója (2014–2020) [Hungary’s Strategy for International Development Cooperation and Policy Concept for International Humanitarian Assistance]. nefe.kormany.hu/download/5/f0/a0000/El%C5%91terjeszt%C3%A9s_NEFEstrat%20v%C3%A9gleges%20strat%C3%A9gia_561NEFEFO.pdf. Accessed 20 November 2015.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 2012 Jelentés Magyarország 2012. évi nemzetközi fejlesztési és humanitárius segítségnyújtási tevékenységéről [Report on Hungary’s International Development and Humanitarian Assistance in 2012], Budapest: Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 2011. Magyar külpolitika az Uniós elnökség után [Hungarian Foreign Policy after the EU Presidency]. eu.kormany.hu/download/4/c6/20000/kulpolitikai_strategia_20111219.pdf. Accessed 25 November 2012.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 2006. Hungarian International Development Policy. www.mfa.gov.hu/NR/rdonlyres/933C1461-8F65-403A-B841-B0A37C755BF4/0/061206_newdonor.pdf. Accessed 12 December 2012.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. 2014. Komoly siker Magyarországnak az ENSZ 2030-ig szóló fenntartható fejlesztési céljainak kidolgozása [Developing the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals is a Huge Success for Hungary]. www.kormany.hu/hu/kulgazdasagi-es-kulugyminiszterium/hirek/komoly-siker-magyarorszagnak-az-ensz-2030-ig-szolo-fenntarthato-fejlesztesi-celjainak-kidolgozasa. Accessed 20 November 2015
Mission of Hungary. 2013. Hungary. Input to Questionnaire Related to the Development of Sustainable Development Goals. sustainabledevelopment.un.org/index.php?page=view&type=6200&nr=33&menu=172. Accessed 20 November 2015.
MNO. 2014. Új magyar nagykövetségek nyílnak [New Hungarian Embassies to Open], Magyar Nemzet. http://mno.hu/kulfold/uj-magyar-nagykovetsegek-nyilnak-1288801. Accessed 26 August 2015.
Nasra, Skander. 2011. Governance in EU Foreign Policy: Exploring Small State Influence. Journal of European Public Policy 18 (2): 164–180.
Nasra, Skander, and Peter Debaere. 2016. The European Union in the G20: What Role for Small States? Cambridge Review of International Affairs 29 (1): 209–230.
Neumann, Iver, and Sieglinde Gstöhl. 2004. Lilliputians in Gulliver’s World: Small States in International Relations. Reykjavik: Centre for Small State Studies, University of Iceland.
Öniş, Ziya, and Mustafa Kutlay. 2017. Global Shifts and the Limits of the EU’s Transformative Power in the European Periphery: Comparative Perspectives from Hungary and Turkey. Government and Opposition. https://doi.org/10.1017/gov.2017.16.
Open Working Group. 2014. Open Working Group Proposal for Sustainable Development Goals. sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/1579SDGs%20Proposal.pdf. Accessed 20 November 2015.
Panke, Diana. 2014. Is Bigger Better? Activity and Success in Negotiations in the United Nations General Assembly. Negotiation Journal 30: 367–392.
Panke, Diana. 2013. Getting Ready to Negotiate in International Organizations? Journal of International Organizations Studies 4: 25–38.
Panke, Diana. 2012. Small States in Multilateral Negotiations. What Have We Learned? Cambridge Review of International Affairs 25 (3): 387–398.
Panke, Diana. 2010. Small States in the European Union: Structural Disadvantages in EU Policy-Making and Counter-Strategies. Journal of European Public Policy 17 (6): 799–817.
Paragi, Beáta. 2010. Hungarian Development Policy. In European Development Cooperation—In Between the Local and the Global, ed. Paul Hoebink, 195–222. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
Pospisil, Jan, and Stefan Khittel. 2010. Is there an Advantage to Being Small? Security-Related Development Cooperation of Smaller European States. In European Development Cooperation—In Between the Local and the Global, ed. Paul Hoebink, 125–144. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
Rohonyi, Péter. 2015. Interview with H. E. Csaba Kőrösi, Co-Chair of the UN Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals and then Ambassador, Permanent Mission of Hungary to the United Nations in New York. Külügyi Szemle 15: 21–25.
Smith, Nicola, Michelle Pace, and Donna Lee. 2005. Size Matters: Small States & International Relations. International Studies Perspectives 6 (3): 2–3.
Steinmetz, Robert, and Anders Wivel. 2010. Introduction. In Small States in Europe: Challenges and Opportunities, ed. Robert Steinmetz, and Anders Wivel, 1–15. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Sustainable Development Solutions Network (2012) A Framework for Sustainable Development. unsdsn.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/121220-Draft-Framework-of-Sustainable-Development1.pdf. Accessed 1 December 2015.
Szent-Iványi, Balázs. 2012. Hungarian International Development Co-operation: Context, Stakeholders and Performance. Perspectives on European Politics and Society 13 (1): 50–65.
Szent-Iványi, Balázs, and Simon Lightfoot. 2015. New Europe’s New Development Aid. Abingdon: Routledge.
Tarrósy, István, and Péter Morenth. 2013. Global Opening for Hungary—New Beginning for Hungarian Africa Policy? African Studies Quarterly 14 (1–2): 77–96.
Tarrósy, István, and Zoltán Vörös. 2014. Hungary’s Global Opening to an Interpolar World. Politeja 28: 139–162.
Törő, Csaba. 2013. Hungary: The Europeanization of Perspectives and Purposes. In The New Member States and the European Union–Foreign Policy and Europeanization, ed. Michael Baun, and Dan Marek, 37–52. London: Routledge.
Thorhallsson, Baldur. 2006. The Size of States in the European Union: Theoretical and Conceptual Perspectives. Journal of European Integration 28 (1): 7–31.
Thorhallsson, Baldur, and Anders Wivel. 2006. Small States in the European Union: What Do We Know and What Would We Like to Know? Cambridge Review of International Affairs 19 (4): 651–655.
TST Issue Brief. 2013. Water and Sanitation. sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/1801tstissueswater.pdf. Accessed 1 December 2015.
Tulmets, Elsa. 2014. East Central European Foreign Policy Identity in Perspective: Back to Europe and the EU’s Neighbourhood. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
United Nations. 2010. New Permanent Representative of Hungary Presents Credentials. www.un.org/press/en/2010/bio4234.doc.htm. Accessed 20 November 2015.
Vituki. n.d. Cégtörténet [Corporate History]. www.vituki.hu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=26. Accessed on 10 November 2015.
Weiss, Tomas. 2017. Promoting National Priorities in EU Foreign Policy: The Czech Republic’s Foreign Policy in the EU. London: Routledge.
List of interviews
INT#01: Senior official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs 1, May 2014, Budapest.
INT#02: Senior official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade 2, November 2014, Budapest.
INT#03: Hungarian diplomat 1, July 2015, Budapest.
INT#04: Hungarian diplomat 2, July 2015, Budapest.
INT#05: Hungarian diplomat 3, July 2015, Brussels, via phone.
INT#06: Hungarian diplomat 4, October 2015, Budapest.
INT#07: Civil society representative 1, July 2014, Budapest.
INT#08: Civil society representative 2, July 2015, Budapest.
INT#09: Civil society representative 3, October 2015, Budapest, via email.
INT#10: Civil society representative 4, September 2015, Berlin.
Participant observation
OBS#1: ‘Post-2015 Development Agenda. Societal Consultation’, 10 September, 2013, event jointly organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Hungarian UN Society.
Acknowledgements
Early versions of this paper were presented at the ‘Global Governance and the Politics of Aid’ symposium, University of Bradford, 2015, and at the UACES Conference in Bilbao, 2015. We are grateful to the participants for their feedback. We would also like to thank Mark Furness, Niels Keijzer, and three anonymous referees for their helpful and instructive comments on earlier drafts. All errors remain our own.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Szent-Iványi, B., Végh, Z. & Lightfoot, S. Branding for business? Hungary and the sustainable development goals. J Int Relat Dev 23, 190–209 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41268-017-0127-8
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41268-017-0127-8