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Citizenship and Nation-Building in Postcommunist Central and Eastern Europe

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Extra-Territorial Ethnic Politics, Discourses and Identities in Hungary

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Citizenship Transitions ((PASC))

Abstract

This chapter presents an account of the external citizenship policies of kin-states towards co-ethnic minorities in postcommunist Europe. Several Central and Eastern European countries have introduced kinship-based preferential treatment after 1989, granting easier access to citizenship for ethnic kin groups living in other countries. The chapter argues that restitutive external citizenship was introduced as part of democratic transition and historical reconciliation in the postcommunist region. The internationalization of minority protection was another important factor that triggered kin-state activism in external minority protection. In newly restored states where the proportion of titular majorities was relatively low, external citizenship and the parallel exclusion of resident ethnic/national minorities served nation-building projects.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    I will later detail the implications of how ‘nation’ is defined. Most importantly, I will point out that depending on whether ethnocultural commonalities or political allegiances are used to define nationhood, the political field will exhibit normatively and systematically different structural patterns.

  2. 2.

    I discuss the ethnic-civic distinction later in this chapter.

  3. 3.

    For detailed comprehensive reports, comparative analyses, and case studies of citizenship regimes, see the working papers of the University of Edinburgh’s project The Europeanisation of Citizenship in the Successor States of the Former Yugoslavia (CITSEE) at http://www.citsee.ed.ac.uk/.

  4. 4.

    A more detailed overview and typology of diaspora politics, transborder engagement institutions and their rationale will follow in Chapter 5.

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Pogonyi, S. (2017). Citizenship and Nation-Building in Postcommunist Central and Eastern Europe. In: Extra-Territorial Ethnic Politics, Discourses and Identities in Hungary . Palgrave Studies in Citizenship Transitions. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52467-2_2

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