Slovak Magyar Relations

Author : Dagmar Kusá
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 298 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (642 download)

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Download or read book The Ethnification of Political Systems in Central Europe written by Dagmar Kusá and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abstract: This thesis looks at the political role and treatment of Slovakia's Hungarian minority. It assumes that political identity formation is cumulative, building upon past experiences, and that collective memory is a crucial factor in the formation and maintenance of ethnic identity. The thesis is interdisciplinary in its approach, and consists of three parts. The first part analyzes the development of citizenship as a status as well as a practice in Slovakia. It examines the extent to which the history of Slovak-Hungarian relations has had an impact on Slovakian citizenship legislation and its implementation, and on the public debates related to them. The second part takes a closer historical look at the years following WWII in which the Hungarian and German citizens lost citizenship rights and underwent waves of transfers. This event is placed into the conceptual context of ethnic identity formation and considers the impact of the post-war years on Slovak-Hungarian relations and identification in the present day. The third and last part of the dissertation focuses on the dynamics of Slovak-Hungarian relations and identity at the local level. It is based on original survey research carried out from May to August 2003 in the South Slovakian town of Komárno. The survey research compares the attitudes and collective memories of members of the political public and political elites in Komárno. This comparison shows that historical references are more present in the attitudes among the political elite than in the political public. Moreover, in both groups, ethnic identity plays a role only in a few instances where there were heated public debates on controversial topics. The interdisciplinary approach to inter-ethnic relations taken in this work provides a better understanding of ethnic identifies, dynamics, and conflicts than studies that focus only on contemporary public opinion data or take a purely historical view. Taken together, the different parts of the dissertation--historical and empirical--show that collective memory can serve as a key factor in ethnic mobilization. However, it is not a static feature of inter-ethnic relations, and must be mobilized by political elites to affect public attitudes and day-to-day life.