Hungarian Border Research as a reflection of European integration and regional transformation

Abstract

This paper discusses ways in which Hungarian border studies have reflected processes of post-1989 transformation by moving towards a contextual perspective on diaerent border-making (bordering) processes. Traditionally, Hungarian border studies, and with them geographical conceptualizations of Hungarian state spaces, have reflected changing historical and political contexts as well as dominant scientific paradigms that have shifted with time. In the past, this has also manifested itself in varying degrees of environmental determinism and ethno-nationalism. In the contemporary context, Hungarian border studies have developed a plural, multilevel as well as critical focus that interlinks diaerent areas where borders are politically and socially relevant. As will be elaborated in the following, several conceptualisations of Hungary’s border situation have emerged that reflect: 1) new cross-border economic, political and social spaces, 2) the influence of European integration on Hungary’s politics of borders and 3) the symbolic significance of contemporary and historical borders. These concepts, which will be dealt with below, express both historical continuity as well as conceptual innovation deriving from more recent experience. Above all, the development of Hungarian border studies, particularly since 1989, is of particular significance as it manifests a shift from an ‘introverted’ perspective to a conceptualization of Hungary both as a nation-state and as a borderlands society within contemporary Europe. This contribution makes no attempt at comprehensiveness and it is, admittedly, a highly selective overview of a very rich and multidisciplinary research field. In the interest of brevity, attention will focus on only a few representative strands of investigation that, in my view, have been formative in the more recent development of Hungarian border studies.