Nationalizing minorities and homeland politics

english

2007

nationalism    people    Hungary    Romania 

Inštitut za narodnostna vprašanja
(Obvezni izvod spletne publikacije)

There is no single state in Europe that is not based - in a way or another - on the principle of nationality. In different places, in different historical periods nationalism was, and is, present is various forms. The article focuses on the general aspects, mechanisms and processes of what is called "nationalism in East-Central Europe", and illustrates the different nationalisms on the case of the interdependence of Hungarian and Romanian nationalisms. The article presents the different types of nationalisms involved in the relationship between Hungary and Romania, as an emblematic example. The issue of definition of the nation is not only a scientific issue,but a political one too. The Hungarian status law and the debate on dual citizenship, as well the international consequences of the debate is a perfect example of how scientific and political approaches merge. The real question of social sciences target how does societies transform and institutionalize. The status law syndrome is post-communist nation building. It is the institutionalization or re-institutionalization of societies on a national basis. The Hungarian case may have put this question on the table for Europe, however, this type of law is not novel. The status laws show that the nationality principle underlies the principles of ECE states, and that all ECE states employ the ethnocultural definition and institutionalization of their societies. The status laws and policies of dual citizenship reflect nothing else but the prolongation of nationalism. The democratizing states in ECE and the enlargement of the European Union created new institutional frameworks also for the managing the issue of national minorities.

06.05.2010