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National Reunification Beyond Borders: Diaspora Politics in Hungary Since 2010

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Extra-Territorial Ethnic Politics, Discourses and Identities in Hungary

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

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Abstract

This chapter gives an overview of the citizenship and diaspora politics of the Orbán government elected in 2010. In this chapter, the author makes two main arguments. First, it is pointed out that the Fidesz’ government was motivated purely by reasons internal to Hungarian politics in offering citizenship and voting rights to non-resident Hungarians. The main reason for the legal inclusion of ethnic Hungarians living in the transborder region as well as in the overseas diasporas was to strengthen Fidesz’ nationalist image and pre-empt nationalist outbidding by the rising far-Right Jobbik party. Second, it is argued that the inclusion of non-resident Hungarians may be counterproductive both in terms of inter- and intra-ethnic relations.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Venice Commission, Legislation on Kin-Minorities (Hungary), Paper Containing the Position of the Hungarian Government in Relation to the Act on Hungarians Living in the Neighbouring Countries, CDL (2001) 80, dated August 21, 2001. This opinion, however, remained largely unknown to the Hungarian public until 2005, when Mária M. Kovács mentioned it in a newspaper article discussing Fidesz’s turn in the question of non-resident citizenship (Mária M. Kovács, “Rejtély a kettős állampolgárság körül” [The Puzzle of Dual Citizenship], Népszabadság, September 9, 2005 at http://www.nol.hu/archivum/archiv-376550. After the publication of the article, the Ministry could not find the original of the signed document in the archives, see György Bugyinszki, “Nemzet, politika – Mit gondol valójában a Fidesz a kettős állampolgárságról?” [Nation, Politics – What Does Fidesz Really Think about Dual Citizenship?], Magyar Narancs, September 29, 2005 at http://magyarnarancs.hu/belpol/nemzet_politika mit_gondol_valojaban_a_fidesz_a_kettos_allampolgarsagrol-64582.

  2. 2.

    Council Directive 2004/38/EC of April 29, 2004 on the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States, para 10.

  3. 3.

    For further information on the Slovak-Hungarian debate, see André Liebich and Rainer Bauböck (eds.), “Is There (Still) an East-West Divide in The Conception of Citizenship in Europe?”, RSCAS Working Paper 2010/19.

  4. 4.

    European Court of Human Rights, Applications nos. 14927/12 and 30415/12 István Fehér against Slovakia and Erzsébet Dolník against Slovakia, May 21, 2013.

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Pogonyi, S. (2017). National Reunification Beyond Borders: Diaspora Politics in Hungary Since 2010. 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_4

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