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| Hungary
History |
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In the ninth century
Finno-Ugriar nomads came into Hungary via south
Russia, settling down in the latter half of the tenth century. The
Arpád Dynasty ruled up until the end of
the 13th century when Hungary was devastated by the Mongol invasion.
Matthias Corvinus subsequently re-established Hungary
as the leading power in central Europe, also developing Magyar
arts and literature. His successor, Laszlo II then
undid his work within a few years, and Hungary fell under Turkish
sovereignty during the 16th century, re-establishing independence
after the Thirty Years’ War. Hungary formed
an alliance with Austria and was ruled by a Magyar
aristocracy.
It stayed essentially a feudal state until 1914, under monarchic
and republican regimes, with an antiquated social system which was
not fully dismantled until after World War II.
Hungary sided with Nazi Germany during the war until 1944, when
German troops occupied the country Hungary sought to break the alliance.
The Germans were driven out by the Russians during January 1945.
By 1949, Hungary had become a Soviet-style socialist state, a member
of the Warsaw Pact and a People’s
Republic. The ruling Hungarian Socialist Workers’
Party was driven by factional splits between pro-Soviet
hardliners and the more liberally inclined group around Imre
Nagy.
The dispute came to a head during 1956 when hard-liners led by Janos
Kádár overthrew premier Nagy with the support
of Soviet army units. Despite its origins, the Hungarian regime
had by the 1970s become the most liberal of all the Soviet bloc
systems. This was largely a result of the introduction in 1968 of
the ‘New Economic Mechanism’ which
allowed a significant role to be taken by private enterprise and
the market in the Hungarian economy. Expressions of political opposition
were not as ruthlessly suppressed Eastern Europe elsewhere. The
socialists nonetheless maintained a firm grip on the country’s
economic and political life.
During the 1980's the political situation relaxed still further
as Kádár’s influence over the
Government was reduced. He was removed from the ruling Politburo
in 1988 and Hungary began the transition to a pluralistic political
system. The first elections were held in the spring of 1990 and
brought to power a centre-right umbrella group, the Hungarian
Democratic Forum with Jozsef Antall as
the prime minister. The left, social democrats and former communists,
coalesced around the Hungarian Socialist Party
(Magyar Szocialista Part, MSzP). A second right-wing party, the
Alliance of Young Democrats, eclipsed the Democratic Forum during
the mid-1990s, and Hungarian politics now follow the customary European
model of alternating between FIDESz and the MSzP.
Following the most recent poll during May 2002, the Socialists
replaced the FIDESz-led coalition as the governing party.
The Socialists are essentially a party of technocrats
with little ideological fervour and the new Prime Minister, Peter
Medgyessy (a former finance minister and deputy premier),
is not a member of the party. By contrast, FIDESz,
led by the recently deposed Victor Orban, is a
populist party with a highly motivated support base. Nevertheless,
there are few significant differences to the main agendas of the
parties. The overriding priority is the pursuit of full membership
of the European Union, which in itself places major
constraints on government spending irrespective of the party in
power. Hungary achieved its other main objective – membership
of NATO – in 1999. Along with Poland and
the Czech Republic, Hungary was admitted after a 2-year period of
negotiation and a national referendum which approved future membership
by a 6-to-1 margin. Hungary has also joined with the Czech Republic,
Poland and Slovakia in the Visegrad group, which
was established to promote political and economic co-operation in
central Europe. Abroad, Hungary has had some involvement in the
Balkan conflicts of the 1990s. Its calculations
must always take account of the sizeable ethnic Hungarian minorities
in the Yugoslav autonomous region of Vojvodina, north-eastern Romania,
the Slovak Republic and Ukraine. Hungary clearly believes, however,
that NATO is the best guarantor of stability within
the region. |
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