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cover reg_2003_angol.qxd 6/30/2004 11:52 AM Page 1 REGIO REGIO Minorities, Politics, Society Lessons of Democratization in Central Europe O Autonomy, Demos and Ethnos O State building and Constitution Writing O Hungary and the Hungarians Living Abroad O The Hungarian Autonomous Region in Romania O Diaspora and nationalism O EU neighborhood policy O 2003 1500Ft, 6 € 2003 cover reg_2003_angol.qxd 6/30/2004 11:52 AM Page 2 EDITORS ZOLTÁN KÁNTOR NÁNDOR BÁRDI, CSILLA FEDINEC, PÉTER ERDÕSI, ÉVA KOVÁCS, ATTILA Z. PAPP Published by the Teleki László Institute The publishing of this volume was supported by Cultural Foreign Policy and National Identity Project National Cultural Fund and the Illyés Foundation Translations reviewed by LISA MOOTZ EDITORIAL OFFICE: Teleki László Institute Centre of Central European Studies H-1125 Budapest, Szilágyi Erzsébet fasor 22/c Hungary Tel.: +36 (1) 391-5726 E-mail: [email protected] http://www.regiofolyoirat.hu Printed by PrinterArt Ltd. ISSN 0865 557 X REGIO A rewiev of Studies on Minorities, Politics, and Society, 2003 TRANSITION ANDRÁS BOZÓKI: Success Stories: Lessons of Democratization in Central Europe 3 IRINA CULIC State Building and Constitution Writing in Central and Eastern Europe after 1989 38 AUTONOMY: PRESENT AND PAST GYÖRGY SCHÖPFLIN Autonomy, Demos and Ethnos 59 STEFANO BOTTONI The Creation of the Hungarian Autonomous Region in Romania (1952): Premises and Consequences 71 NATION AND NATIONALISM ZSUZSA CSERGÕ National Strategies and the Uses of Dichotomy 95 LÁSZLÓ FOSZTÓ Diaspora and Nationalism: an Anthropological Approach to the International Romani Movement 102 2 MINORITIES NÁNDOR BÁRDI Hungary and the Hungarians Living Abroad: a Historical Outline 121 ZOLTÁN ALPÁR SZÁSZ The Electoral Success of Dominant Parties Representing the Hungarian Minority in Romania and Slovakia 139 COMMUNISM AND AFTER ÉVA KOVÁCS The Cynical and the Ironical – Remembering Communism in Hungary 155 ATTILA MELEGH From Reality to TwilightZones. Change of Discourses and the Collapse of State Socialism 170 BARBARA BÕSZE EU Neighborhood Policy and a New Order at the External Borders 187 TRANSITION ANDRÁS BOZÓKI Success Stories: Lessons of Democratization in Central Europe he rise and fall of Communist regimes form one of the dominant Tpolitical stories of the twentieth century. It started with the putsch-like revolution in Russia in 1917 and ended up with reform-like ne- gotiated revolutions in East Central Europe in 1989. These transitions had a worldwide effect: the end of the Soviet Union and the end of the more than forty years period of the Cold War in 1991. These changes have been in- terpreted as the sweeping victory of the idea of democracy and the “third wave” of democratization.1 More than a decade after the historic democratic turn, all countries in Central Europe are constantly rated as “free” ones by the Freedom House.2 It seems that, in the Balkans, the problems of definition of national political community meant to be the greatest obstacle to democratization. But when it was solved, most of those countries quickly moved closer to the fully free category. In the case of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Yugoslavia, just as in the post-Soviet republics mentioned above, this movement toward freedom will probably take more time. In 1999, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland became members of the NATO, in 2002 Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia were invited by NATO as well, and joined NATO in 2004. In 2004 the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Slovenia to joined the European Union. Bulgaria and Romania (and perhaps Croatia) can re- ceive invitation to the EU in a few years time. The integration of Central Europe into the international democratic political organizations is well on the way. 1 Most notably,Samuel P.Huntington: The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991. 2 Cf. Freedom House: Freedom in the World: The Annual Survey ofPoliticalRightsandCivilLiber- ties, 2000–2001. (General editor: Adrian Karatnycky) New York: Freedom House, 2001. 4 ANDRÁS BOZÓKI However, these countries had to combat tremendous problems to com- plete successfully the tasks of the double or “triple transition”3 (dictatorship to democracy, state socialism to capitalism, and in many cases, from non-states to democratic nation states). Transitionsto democracy had signifi- cant social and economic costs. Table1. summarizes the main conditions of the Central European democracies. For Central European countries, while formal political and human de- velopment indices show remarkably good figures, it is the level of economic development (Cf. Real GDP per capita), which still pose huge problems. These democracies are relatively poor democracies by European standards. This is not to say that any serious breakdown of democracy would be proba- ble in these countries, rather it just makes their integration to the European Union difficult. It is not so much the possibility of breakdown of democracy that deserves attention, rather the possible survival of informal, semi-cor- rupt structures and practices, and the conditions of “shallow democracy” (i.e. half-democratic or not-fully-democratic practices inside the formal democratic framework of rule).4 In this paper, I shall first analyze the meaning and modes of these revolu- tionary changes of 1989 by focusing on the nature of the roundtable talks and their impact on the subsequent democratic regime.5 Second, I will deal with the impact of communist and pre-communist legacies on the nature of postcommunist democracies. Here, I will discuss the visions of a future de- mocracy and the historical references of the participants of the transition which were recalled to distance some points in the past while revitalizing oth- 3 Claus Offe: Varieties of Transition. Cambridge, Mass.: M. I. T. Press, 1997. 4 Cf. Larry Diamond: Developing Democracy Toward Consolidation. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999. 5 Former analyses of the Hungarian Roundtable talks include László Bruszt: Negotiated Revolution in Hungary. Social Research, Vol. 57. No. 2, 1990. 365–87; András Bozóki: Hungary’s Road to Systemic Change: The Opposition Roundtable. East European Politics and Societies, Vol. 7. No. 2. Spring, 1993. 276–308; András Bozóki: The Opposition Roundtable. In Béla K. Király (ed.), András Bozóki (associate editor): Lawful Revolution in Hungary, 1989–1994.Boulder: Social Science Monographs distributed by the Columbia University Press, 1995. 61–92; Rudolf L. Tõkés: Hungary’s Negotiated Revolution.Cam- bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996; András Sajó: Roundtable Talks in Hungary.In Jon Elster (ed.): Roundtable Talks and the Breakdown of Communism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996. 69–98; András Bozóki (editor-in-chief), Márta Elbert, Melinda Kalmár, Béla Révész, Erzsébet Ripp and Zoltán Ripp (eds.): A rendszerváltás forgatókönyve: Kerekasztal-tárgyalások 1989-ben. [The ‘Script’ of the Regime Change: Roundtable Talksin 1989] 8 vols. Budapest: Magvetõ (Vol. 1–4), Budapest: Új Mandátum, (Vol. 5–8), 1999–2000. Success Stories: Lessons of Democratization in Central Europe 5 Ta b l e 1 . Central European democracies: an overview on political, social, demographic, and economic conditions (2000-2001) Czech Hungary Poland Slovakia Slovenia Rep. Freedom H. free (1, 2) free (1, 2) free (1, 2) free (1, 2) free (1, 2) Index parliamen- parliamen- parliamen- parliamen- parliamen- Democracy tary tary tary tary tary President parlia- parlia- the the parlia- elected by ment ment people people ment Ex-communist non-re- frag- reformed reformed reformed party formed mented Population 10.3 10.0 38.6 5.4 2.0 (million) Ethnic homoge- homo- homoge- homoge- divided composition neous genoeus neous neous Life expectancy 74 71 73 73 75 (year) Adult literacy 99.0 99.3 99.7 99.0 99.6 rate Human Dev. high high high high high Index Real GDP per 12.362 10.232 7.619 9.699 14.293 Capita USD In % of EU 59 51 40 48 69 average Inflation % 4.7 9.2 5.5 7.3 8.4 (2001) Unemploy- 8.1 5.7 17.4 18.3 11.6 ment % FDI per Capita 2960.5 2595.0 1642.5 1161.9 1801.2 (million EUR) Source: Freedom House (2001)6, Human Development Report (2000)7,Gyévai (2002)8, National Banks and Statistical Offices data9 6 Freedom House, op. cit. 7 Human Development Report, New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. 8 Zoltán Gyévai: A nagycsoportos bõvítés hatásai [The impacts of the Big Bang type of enlargement of the European Union] Figyelõ, 10 October 2002. 17–19. 9 Provided by Tamás Dávid from Budapest Economics Co. 6 ANDRÁS BOZÓKI ers. The paper will conclude with an evaluation of the effects of the “negoti- ated revolutions” as new beginnings. 1. THE MODES OF TRANSITION AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE NATURE OF SUBSEQUENT REGIMES Transitions or revolutions? Democratic transitions are some ways different from classic revolutions, and these differences effect its perception as “new beginning”.10 They might be revolutionary in their outcome but non-revolutionary in their process of change. – First, while revolutions start out from below and outside the power center, transitions are more complex interplays between elites and non-elites. One peculiarity of transitions is that they start from inside and outside, and also from top and bottom at the same time. – Second, while revolutions are mostly violent or threatening with the use of violence, transitions are non-violent changes in which partici- pants consciously pay attention to avoid violence. – Third, while revolutions usually polarize society between supporters of the old and new regimes, transitions offer place for different type of participants. In transition processes usually both the outgoing authori- tarian bloc (reformers vs. hard-liners) and the incoming opposition bloc (moderates vs. radicals) are divided.11 – Fourth, while revolutions are based on the mobilization of society (or seek to mobilize it at least), during the period of transition one can ob- serve both mobilization and demobilization processes.