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Provides a detailed historical account of the evolution of Hungarian politics and governmental structures and activities from the Revolution of 1848-1849 to the end of the twentieth century. It comprises 15 studies on various aspsects of the subject by distinguished Hungarian scholars. ... Read more

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The transition to democracy in Central and Eastern Europe is not complete. The process by which governments make policy is often closed and difficult to penetrate. Frequently, only a few insiders are consulted, and even when the process is more oprn, short time limits and bureaucratic resistance make the process opaque to ordinary citizens. Drawing on interviews with key officials and private sector activists, this book documents existing problems with the policymaking processes in Hungary and Poland and argues for reforms that will enhance the accountability of all democracies in the region. ... Read more

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Based on unprecedented access to information, Governmentand Politics in Hungary provides not only a historical overview butalso an analysis of the main political actors, constitution, electoralsystem, parliament and political parties of Hungary.

This timely and detailed analysis contains a wealth of important datawhich serves two major objectives. The first is to survey the mostimportant institutions of the political and governmental systems andthe cultural and behavioural characteristics of Hungarianpolitics. The second, is to provide the reader with a clearunderstanding of the two - way relationship between cultural -behavioural and constitutional -institutional levels of politics inHungary.

The book challenges many stereotypes of post-communist politicalliterature and reveals why Hungarian politics does not fit into manyof the generalizations and 'pigeon holes' of contemporary politicalscience. ... Read more

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Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. These four Central European countries are the subject of this book, and the most likely to become admitted to the European Union within five to ten years. Author John Fitzmaurice sets the basic data for each country against the background of making the transition from communism. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A dry summary of a fascinating region
I bought this book while researching Czech and Slovak politics, and got quite a bit less than I was expecting from it. Perhaps the title misled me: I was expecting an overview of politics in the region, but what I got instead was a handbook that, to a large extent, summarised the constitutions of the four countries.

What I found disappointing was the author's sometimes uncritical quotations from constitutions and party programmes. Rather than repeating what is supposed to be, he could have done a better job of informing the reader about what is by bringing in observations and opinions from other political scientists.

In certain areas, Fitzmaurice's urge to summarise leaves the book thin on the ground. For example, the author uses a single paragraph to describe "constitution building" in Slovakia.

The book also shows signs of a poor editing job. The author is quite patchy in his use of diacritics in Central European names; he uses them in some names, while ommitting them in others. He also manages to misspell the names of two leading Slovak politicians. Further, the book is not free of factual errors: Fitzmaurice writes about Poland's Marshal Pilsudski fighting "against the Soviet Union in 1920", when more careful research would have shown him that the USSR was, in fact, not founded until 1922, after Communist Russia's war with Poland was over. Such errors and ommissions reflect badly on the author's knowledge of the region.

Finally, given the title of the book, I expected more attention to be placed on regional issues and on relations between the four countries. While the author does maintain a comparative framework throughout the book, he devotes a handful of pages explicitly to relations between the four countries.

Thus, in short, while the book does provide useful background information on the four countries' politics, the reader would be well advised to look elsewhere for more in-depth information and analysis. ... Read more

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Hungary Diplomatic Handbook (World Business, Investment and Government Library) ... Read more

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"Exploring the history and theory of constitutionalism in a comparative perspective this account is concerned not only with the mechanics of government, but more comprehensively with the organization of state-society relations. Drawing on some classic examples, such as the history and fundaments of the US constitution, the 1791 French constitution or the Weimar constitution, we are reminded that we can learn the most from earlier failures."--BOOK JACKET. ... Read more

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This is the first book in English to comprehensively examine the crucial first five years of Istvan Bethlen's premiership when, following the catastrophe of 1918-1920, he began the reconstruction of the country. Thomas Lorman argues that from 1920 to 1925, Bethlen engaged in a protracted and closely fought struggle to restore political, social, and economic stability. Bethlen achieved his objectives by re-constructing the governing party, which had been employed so effectively by Kálmán and István Tisza prior to World War One. Like the Tiszas' model, Bethlen's governing party was designed not to carry through a particular ideological agenda but rather to dominate Hungarian politics, which allowed Bethlen to consolidate the regime and restore stability.

This book recognizes Bethlen's pragmatism. Lorman conducts extensive original research in Hungarian state and local archives and uses a methodological approach that examines, in detail, each stage of the political process by which Bethlen carried through the consolidation of the regime's power and the restoration of political stability.

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As the first and only book in any language on contemporary women's movements in Hungary, this groundbreaking study focuses on the role of women's activism in a society where women are not yet adequately represented by established parties and political institutions. Drawing on eyewitness accounts of meetings and protests, as well as first-person interviews with leading female activists, Katalin Fábián examines the interactions between women's groups in Hungary and studies the unique brand of democracy they have forged in postcommunist Eastern Europe. Through her analysis, she demonstrates how democratization and globalization -- with their attendant range of challenges and opportunities -- have led women to redefine public-private divides.

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Hungary was the last ally of Nazi Germany, and as such suffered dreadful destruction in the course of the fighting during the last year of the war.Although the war discredited the political and social elite and gave opportunity for a new beginning. early optimism in democratic circles quickly dissipated. The communists, who had negligible indigenous support, with the help of the Soviet Army, in a short time managed to destroy any organized opposition to their taking power. Based on archival and other primary sources, this concise book describes the methods of communist conquest of power in one country in Eastern Europe to make the origin of the Cold War more understandable. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

On the Road from Fascism to Communism
I read this book both as a person who lived through the times described and as an academic observer of kindred subjects for the past five decades. The country discussed in this volume is Hungary, the years are 1944-48 during which the country was taken through its fate and fortunes from the fascist dictatorship of the Arrow Cross to full-blown communism under the sponsorship of theU.S.S.R. Though its focus is on one country, the message of the narrative far exceeds the narrow geographical and chronological boundaries of the subject. The text is illuminating not only as astudy of a small country, but also as history that sheds more light on the beginnings of the cold war and on Soviet strategies of establishing one-party governments in the eastern half of Europe.

For years academic discussions on this subject pivoted around two questions. One, did the USSR have an expansionist design for these countries early on, and two, would more circumspect or courageous attitude on the part of Hungarian politicians of the transitional period have prevented the eventual outcome of full-blown communism? Kenez's answers to these questions are straightforward: Soviet strategies were contingent on world political events, and two, once the decision was made, no amount of clever maneuvering could have prevented the imposition of communist government. The proof for conclusions unfolds through a book that cleverly blends analytic and chronological elements. While the Soviets are mulling over the implications of the advance of their armies deep into Central Europe, unforeseen developments in local and international politics shape their tactical and strategic decisions. Within this context, separate chapters discuss the rise of the communist controlled security police, a troubled project of building democracy, the Soviet domination of the International Control Commission, foci of local resistance with special emphasis on the Catholic Church, the dilemmas of a Jewish community facing another dictatorship after emerging from a regime of systematic destruction, and the first show trial that turned out to be a major instrument in liquidating the weak structures of the emerging democratic state.

Kenez's fusing these analytic and chronological elements produces a text that flows freely and elegantly. It is based on a careful synthesis of a rather large Hungarian monographic literature with the author's detective work in the archives. Kenez is a native of Hungary who, as a professional, has become a foremost historian of the Soviet Union ("from beginning to the end" as the subtitle of one of his many books brightly states). As a child he was eyewitness to many of the events described in this volume caught up in the destructive urges of two dictatorships and in the vagaries of the transition process. Given these facts, he is strikingly dispassionate in writing about the subject. Very much recommended. ... Read more

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Deals with political science. ... Read more

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By 1989 it was obvious that the majority of Hungary's population wanted fundamental political, economic, and social changes. The situation resembled what prevailed in 1956, when massive Soviet aggression suppressed a newborn Hungarian democracy. This time it was totally up to the Hungarians. Essays by leading Hungarian and Western scholars expose the political, economic, moral, legal, judicial, and cultural components of the peaceful transition that over a ten-year period led to democracy in Hungary. ... Read more

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The socialist countries gradually built up a welfare system. Considered in a broader sense, the system includes not only social programmes existing in the West, but also job security and relatively low, fixed prices for food and shelter. Recently, Poland and Hungary have committed themselves to a market economy and the USSR is also considering an overhaul of the existing economic system. The transformation of the economic system has already brought about some minor changes and further major changes are pending. In this volume, the contributors analyze the rise of the socialist welfare system, its advantages and disadvantages. The main focus of the volume is the analysis of the changes already carried out and also those expected in the welfare system in the USSR, Poland and Hungary as a result of the economic reforms. The volume is the work of American, Canadian and Hungarian economists, all experts in the subject matter. ... Read more

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This examines civil-military relations in Eastern Europe through the case of Hungary from the post-World War II transition to Communism, 1945-48, to the transition to democracy in 1988-90. The Communist Party's control of the armed forces, the social status of the military, and the individual member state's relations to the Warsaw Pact receive particular attention. The author critically evaluates the existing major Western theories of civil-military relations pertaining to single-party systems, and comes to the conclusion that they cannot explain the actual experiences of the region. ... Read more

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In the early 1990s, scholars voiced skepticism about the capacity of Eastern Europe's new democracies to manage simultaneous political and economic reform. They argued that the surge of popular participation following democratization would thwart efforts by successor governments to enact market reforms that imposed high costs on major elements of post-Communist society. David Bartlett challenges the conventional wisdom regarding the hazards of "dual transformations": far from hindering marketization, democratization facilitated it. Bartlett argues that the transition to democracy in East Central Europe lowered the political barriers to market reforms by weakening the ability of actors most vulnerable to marketization to manipulate the existing institutional structure to stop or slow down the process.
Although the analysis focuses on Hungary, whose long history of market reforms makes it an ideal vehicle for assessing the impact of institutional change on reform policy, the author shows how his findings call into question the use of "shock therapy" and arguments, based on the experience in East Asia, that economic development and democratization are incompatible.
This book will appeal to economists, political scientists, and others interested in transition problems in formerly communist countries, democratic transitions, and the politics of stabilization and adjustment.
David L. Bartlett is Assistant Professor of Political Science, Vanderbilt University.
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