Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-m8qmq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T08:31:20.030Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Backdoor Nationalism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 September 2010

Jon E. Fox
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology University of Bristol [jon.fox@bristol.ac.uk]
Peter Vermeersch
Affiliation:
Institute for International and European Policy Faculty of Social Sciences University of Leuven [Peter.Vermeersch@soc.kuleuven.be].
Get access

Abstract

Contrary to expectations, the EU’s eastward expansion in 2004 did not sound the death knoll of nationalism in the region; rather, it signalled its reinvention and, in some respects, reinvigoration. In this paper, we examine three ways in which nationalism has been redefined in Hungary and Poland in the context of EU enlargement. First, consensus on the desirability of European unification has lessened the importance of left/right party divisions; in its place, the “nation” has provided a fulcrum for inter-party contestation. Second, EU integration has provided nationalists in the region with a backdoor for realising old nationalist ambitions of national reunification across the porous borders of the EU. Third, we examine the way radical nationalist organisations in Hungary and Poland increasingly define themselves in opposition to the EU.

Résumé

Contrairement à certaines attentes, l’élargissement en 2004 de l’Union européenne vers l’Est n’a pas sonné le glas du nationalisme dans cette région. Il l’a plutôt fait revenir à la surface et en quelque façon renforcé. On examine à partir des cas hongrois et polonais trois développements. En premier lieu l’accord consensuel pour l’entrée de l’Union européenne a diminué l’opposition entre droite et gauche ; en revanche, la « Nation » est devenue un point de fixation pour les luttes entre partis. Deuxièmement, l’intégration européenne a donné aux nationalistes une entrée latérale pour réaliser de vieilles ambitions de réunification par-dessus les frontières poreuses des Etats de l’Union. Troisièmement, en Hongrie comme en Pologne, des organisations nationalistes radicales apparaissent pour affirmer leur opposition à l’Union européenne.

Zusammenfassung

Anders als erwartet, hat die Osterweiterung der EU nicht zu einem Rückgang des Nationalismus in dieser Region geführt. Ganz im Gegenteil, er ist publikumsfähig geworden und verstärkt aus ihr hervorgegangen. Die ungarische und die polnische Situation weisen drei Möglichkeiten auf. Erstens hat der allgemeine Konsens beim EU-Beitritt hat die Unterschiede zwischen Rechts und Links verringert. Die Nation wird Zentrum der Parteikämpfe. Zweitens hat der EU-Beitritt den Nationalisten die Möglichkeiten gegeben, eine Wiedervereinigung über die durchlöcherten Grenzen der EU hinweg zu erreichen. Drittens, sowohl in Ungarn als auch in Polen, entstehen radikale, nationalistische Verbände, um ihrem Widerstand gegen die EU Gestalt zu geben.

Type
Research Articles
Copyright
Copyright © A.E.S. 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bibliographie

Ahn, Thomas von, 2007. “Demokrácia vagy utca? Törékeny stabilitás magyarországon” [“Democracy or the Street? Fragile Stability in Hungary”], Politikatudomány Szemle, 16 (1), pp. 113-128.Google Scholar
Bakke, Elisabeth and Sitter, Nick, 2005. “Patterns of Stability: Party Competition and Strategy in Central Europe since 1989”, Party Politics, 11 (2), pp. 243-263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Batory, Agnes, 2002. “Attitudes to Europe: Ideology, Strategy and the Issue of European Union Membership in Hungarian Party Politics”, Party Politics, 8 (5), pp. 525-39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Batory, Agnes, 2010. “Kin-State Identity in the European Context: Citizenship, Nationalism and Constitutionalism in Hungary”, Nations and Nationalism, 16 (1), pp. 31-48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Batt, Judy, 2002. “Introduction: Region, State and Identity in Central and Eastern Europe”, in Batt, Judy and Wolczuk, Kataryna, eds., Region, State and Identity in Central and Eastern Europe (London, Frank Cass Publishers).Google Scholar
Beichelt, Timm, 2004. “Euro-Skepticism in the EU Accession Countries”, Comparative European Politics, 2 (1), pp. 29-50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borneman, John and Fowler, Nick, 1997. “Europeanization”, Annual Review of Anthropology, 26, pp. 487-514.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bosacki, Marcin, 2006. “Premier obiecuje Polonii” [“Prime Minister Promises Polonia”], Gazeta Wyborcza, 16 September.Google Scholar
Bozóki, András and Kriza, Borbála, 2008. “The Hungarian Semi-Loyal Parties and their Impact on Democratic Consolidation”, in Blasko, Andrew and Janušauskiene, Diana, eds., Political Transformations and Changing Identities in Central and Eastern Europe (Washington, DC, The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy).Google Scholar
Browning, Christopher S. and Joenniemi, Pertti, 2008. “Geostrategies of the European Neighbourhood Policy”, European Journal of International Relations, 14 (3), pp. 519-551.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brubaker, Rogers, 1996. “National Minorities, Nationalizing States, and External National Homelands in the New Europe”, in Brubaker, Rogers, ed., Nationalism Reframed: Nationhood and the National Question in the New Europe (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brusis, Martin, 2002. “Between EU Requirements, Competitive Politics and National Traditions: Re-Creating Regions in the Accession Countries of Central and Eastern Europe”, Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration, and Institutions, 15 (4), pp. 531-559.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bryant, Christopher G. A. and Mokrzycki, Edmund, 1994. “Introduction: Theorizing the Changes in East Central-Europe”, in Bryant, Christopher G. A. and Mokrzycki, Edmund, eds., The New Great Transformation: Change and Continuity in East-Central Europe (London and New York, Routledge).Google Scholar
Bugaric, Bojan, 2008. “Populism, Liberal Democracy, and the Rule of Law in Central and Eastern Europe”, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 41 (2), pp. 191-203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burant, Stephen R., 1993. “International Relations in a Regional Context: Poland and its Eastern Neighbours – Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine”, Europe-Asia Studies, 45 (3), pp. 395-418.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cirtautas, Arista Maria, 1994. “In Pursuit of the Democratic Interest: The Institutionalization of Parties and Interests in Eastern Europe” in Bryant, Christopher G. A. and Edmund, Mokrzycki, eds., The New Great Transformation: Change and Continuity in East-Central Europe (London and New York, Routledge).Google Scholar
Csergő, Zsuzsa and Goldgeier, James M., 2004. “Nationalist Strategies and European Integration”, Perspectives on Politics, 2 (1), pp. 21-37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Culic, Irina, 2006. “Dilemmas of Belonging: Hungarians from Romania”, Nationalities Papers, 34 (2), pp 175-200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Czapliński, Przemysław, 2000. “The ‘Mythic Homeland’ in Contemporary Polish Prose”, Chicago Review, 46 (3-4), pp. 357-365.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deets, Stephen, 2006. “Reimagining the Boundaries of the Nation: Politics and the Development of Ideas on Minority Rights”, East European Politics and Societies, 20 (3), pp. 419-446.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dytkowski, Jacek, 2009. “Najwięcej Kart Polaka we Lwowie” [“Most Pole’s Charters in Lwów”], Nasz Dziennik, 22 January.Google Scholar
Eaglin, Adam, 2008. “Poison from the Pulpit”, Transitions Online, 1 October.Google Scholar
Fowler, Brigid, 2001. “Hungary’s Neighbourhood Policies and Western Integration: Complementary or at Odds?”, ESRC One Europe or Several? Programme. Briefing Note 2/01.Google Scholar
Fowler, Brigid, 2003. “The Parliamentary Elections in Hungary, April 2002”, Electoral Studies, 22 (4), pp. 799-807.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fowler, Brigid, 2004a. “Concentrated Orange: Fidesz and the Remaking of the Hungarian Centre-Right, 1994-2002”, Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, 20 (3), pp. 80-114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fowler, Brigid, 2004b. “Nation, State, Europe and National Revival in Hungarian Party Politics: The Case of the Millennial Commemorations”, Europe-Asia Studies, 56 (1), pp. 57-83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fowler, Brigid, 2004c. “Fuzzing Citizenship, Nationalising Political Space: a Framework for Interpreting the ‘Status Law’ as a New Form of Kin-State Policy in Central and Eastern Europe”, in Kántor, Zoltán, Majtényi, Balázs, Ieda, Osamu, Vizi, Balázs and Halász, Iván, eds., The Hungarian Status Law: Nation Building and/or Minority Protection (Sapporo, Japan, Slavic Research Center).Google Scholar
Gamson, William A. and Meyer, David S., 1996. “Framing Political Opportunity”, in McAdam, Doug, McCarthy, John D. and Zald, Mayer N., eds., Comparative Perspectives on Social Movements: Political Opportunities, Mobilizing Structures and Cultural Framings (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press).Google Scholar
Grabbe, Heather, 2004. “Poland: The EU’s New Awkward Partner”, Center for European Reform Bulletin, 34 [http://www.cer.org.uk/articles/34_grabbe.html].Google Scholar
Graff, Agnieszka, 2009. “Treading WaterTransitions Online, 20 January.Google Scholar
Grzymala-Busse, Anna and Innes, Abby, 2003. “Great Expectations: The EU and Domestic Political Competition in East Central Europe”, East European Politics and Societies, 17 (1), pp. 64-73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guibernau, Montserrat, 2007. The Identity of Nations (Cambridge, Polity).Google Scholar
Gupta, Devashree, 2008. “Nationalism across Borders: Transnational Nationalist Advocacy in the European Union”, Comparative European Politics, 6 (1), pp. 61-80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hanley, Seán, Szczerbiak, Aleks, Haughton, Tim and Fowler, Brigid, 2008. “Sticking together: Explaining comparative Centre-Right Party Success in Post-Communist Central and Eastern Europe”, Party Politics, 14 (4), pp. 407-434.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoppe, Marcus, 2005. “Sub-State Nationalism and European Integration: Constructing Identity in the Multi-Level Political Space of Europe”, Journal of Contemporary European Research, 1 (2), pp. 13-28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaczyński, Andrzej, 2003. “Rząd chce zająć się Polonią” [The Government Wants to Deal with Polonia], Rzeczpospolita, 6 January.Google Scholar
Keating, Michael, 2004. “European Integration and the Nationalities Question”, Politics & Society, 32 (3), pp. 367-388.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keating, Michael, 2006. “Europe, the State and the Nation”, in McGarry, John and Keating, Michael, eds., European Integration and the Nationalities Question (London, Routledge).Google Scholar
Kelley, Judith G., 2004. Ethnic Politics in Europe: The Power of Norms and Incentives. (Princeton, Princeton University Press).Google Scholar
Kemp, Walter, 2006. “Kin-States Protecting National Minorities: Positive Trend or Dangerous Precedent?”, in McGarry, John and Keating, Michael, eds., European Integration and the Nationalities Question, eds. (London, Routledge. pp. 103-123).Google Scholar
Kis, János, 2001. “Nation-Building and Beyond”, in Kymlicka, Will and Opalski, Magda, eds., Can Liberal Pluralism be Exported? Western Political Theory and Ethnic Relations in Eastern Europe (Oxford, Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Kiss, Csilla, 2003. “From Liberalism to Conservativism: The Federation of Young Democrats in Post-Communist Hungary”, East European Politics and Societies, 16 (3), pp. 739-763.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kopecký, Petr and Mudde, Cas, 2002. “The Two Sides of Euroscepticism: Party Positions on European Integration in East Central Europe”, European Union Politics, 3 (3), pp. 297-326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Korkut, Umut, 2009. “Gauging the Boundaries of Religion, Europeanization and Nationalism: ‘EU Pragmatism’ and Fidesz in Hungary”, unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Kovács, Mária, 2006. “The Politics of Dual Citizenship in Hungary”, Citizenship Studies, 10 (4), pp. 431-451.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kymlicka, Will, 2008. “The Evolving Basis of European Norms and Minority Rights: Rights to Culture, Participation and Autonomy”, in Weller, Marc, Blacklock, Denika and Nobbs, Katherine, eds., The Protection of Minorities in the Wider Europe (Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan).Google Scholar
Lakner, Zoltán, 2004. “A magyar pártok és az Európiai Unió. Az EU mint belpolitikai kérdés 1990-2004 között” [“The Hungarian Parties and the European Union: The EU as a Domestic Political Question between 1990 and 2004”], Politikatudományi Szemle, 1-2, pp. 139-157.Google Scholar
LeBor, Adam, 2008. “Marching back to the Future: Magyar Garda and the Resurgence of the Right in Hungary”, Dissent, 55 (2), pp 34-38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Linden, Ron, 2000. “Putting on their Sunday Best: Romania, Hungary, and the Puzzle of Peace”, International Studies Quarterly, 44 (1), pp. 121-145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Majdaczyk, Piotr, 1998. “Niemcy” [“The Germans”], in Majdaczyk, Piotr, ed. Mniejszości narodowe w Polsce [National Minorities in Poland] (Warszawa, Instytut Studiów Polityczych Polskiej Akademia Nauk, pp. 66-109).Google Scholar
Marciniak, Katarzyna, 2006. “New Europe: Eyes Wide Shut”, Social Identities, 12 (5), pp. 615-633.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Markowski, Radoslaw, 2006. “The Polish Elections of 2005: Pure Chaos or Restructuring of the Party System”, West-European Politics, 29 (4), pp. 814-832.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marks, Gary, Hooghe, Liesbet, Moira, Nelson and Edwards, Erica, 2006. “Party Competition and European Integration in the East and West: Different Structure, Same Causality”, Comparative Political Studies, 39 (2), pp. 155-175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marks, Gary and McAdam, Doug, 1996. “Social Movements and the Changing Structure of Political Opportunity in the European Union”, West European Politics, 19 (2), pp. 249-278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGarry, John and Keating, Michael, eds., 2006. European Integration and the Nationalities Question (London, Routledge).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Migalski, Marek, Waldemar, Wojtasik and Mazur, Marek, 2006. Polski System Partyjny [The Polish Party System] (Warszawa, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN).Google Scholar
Migas, Pawel, 2005. “Koglomerat medialny Radia Maryja” [“Radio Maryja’s Media Conglomorate”], Zeszyty Prasoznawcze, 1-2, pp. 33-50.Google Scholar
Millard, Frances, 1996. “The Failure of Nationalism in Post-Communist Poland” in Jenkins, Bryon and Sofos, Spyros, eds., Nation and Identity in Contemporary Europe (London, Routledge).Google Scholar
Minkenberg, Michael, 2002. “The Radical Right in Postsocialist Central and Eastern Europe: Comparative Observations and Interpretations”, East European Politics and Societies, 16 (2), pp. 335-362.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Minkenberg, Michael, 2007. “Between Tradition and Transition: The Central European Radical Right and the New European Order”, in Christina Schori, Liang, Europe for the Europeans: The Foreign and Security Policy of the Populist Radical Right, (Aldershot, Ashgate).Google Scholar
Minkenberg, Michael and Perrineau, Pascal, 2007. “The Radical Right in the European Elections 2004”, International Political Science Review, 28 (1), pp. 29-55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mudde, Cas, 2005. “Racist Extremism in Central and Eastern Europe”, East European Politics and Societies, 19 (2), pp. 161-184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ost, David, 1999. “The Radical Right in Poland: Rationality of the Irrational”, in Ramet, Sabrina P. ed., The Radical Right in Central and Eastern Europe since 1989 (University Park, The Pennsylvania State University Press).Google Scholar
Ost, David, 2005. The Defeat of Solidarity: Anger and Politics in Postcommunist Europe (Ithaca, Cornell University Press).Google Scholar
Paasi, Anssi, 2001. “Europe as a Social Process and Discourse: Considerations of Place, Boundaries and Identity”, European Journal and Regional Studies, 8 (1), pp. 7-28.Google Scholar
Palonen, Emilia, 2009. “Political Polarisation and Populism in Contemporary Hungary”, Parliamentary Affairs, 62 (2), pp. 318-334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porter, Brian, 2002. When Nationalism Began to Hate: Imagining Modern Politics in Nineteenth-Century Poland (Oxford, Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Princen, Sebastiaan and Kerremans, Bart, 2008. “Opportunity Structures in the EU Multi-level System”, West European Politics, 31 (6), pp. 1129-1146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raciborski, Jacek, 2003. “Wybory i wyborcy”, [“Elections and the Electorate”] in Wiatr, Jerzy J., Raciborski, Jacek, Bartkowski, Jerzy, Frątczak-Rudnicka, Barbara and Kilias, Jarosław, eds., Demokracja Polska, 1989-2003 [Polish Democracy, 1989-2003] (Warszawa: Scholar).Google Scholar
Ray, Larry, 2009. “At the End of the Post-Communist Transformation? Normalization or Imagining Utopia?”, European Journal of Social Theory, 12 (3), pp. 321-336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rohrschneider, Robert and Whitefiled, Stephen, 2009. “Understanding Cleavages in Party Systems: Issue Position and Issue Salience in 13 Post-Communist Democracies”, Comparative Political Studies, 42 (2), pp. 280-313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saideman, Stephen M. and Ayres, R. William, 2008. For Kin or Country: Xenophobia, Nationalism, and War (New York, Columbia University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sasse, Gwendolyn, 2006. “National Minorities and EU Enlargement: External or Domestic Incentives for Accommodation?” in McGarry, John and Keating, Michael, eds., European Integration and the Nationalities Question (London, Routledge).Google Scholar
Schimmelfennig, Frank, 2001. “The Community Trap: Liberal Norms, Rhetorical Action, and the Eastern Enlargement of the European Union”, International Organization, 55 (1), pp. 47-80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schimmelfennig, Frank and Sedelmeier, Ulrich, 2005. The Europeanization of Central and Eastern Europe (Ithaca, Cornell University Press).Google Scholar
Schwellnus, Guido, 2005. “The Adoption of Nondiscrimination and Minority Protection Rules in Romania, Hungary, and Poland” in Schimmelfennig, Frank and Sedelmeier, Ulrich, eds., The Europeanization of Central and Eastern Europe (Ithaca, Cornell University Press).Google Scholar
Skłodowska, Inka and Dołbakowska, Magdalena, eds., 2004. Wybory 1997. Partie i ich programy [Elections 2007. Parties and their Programmes], (Warszawa, Instytut Studiów Politycznych Polskiej Akademii Nauk).Google Scholar
Skłodowska, Inka and Dołbakowska, Magdalena, eds., 2006. Wybory 2005. Partie i ich programy [Elections 2005. Parties and their Programmes], (Warszawa, Instytut Studiów Politycznych Polskiej Akademii Nauk).Google Scholar
Smith, Anthony D., 1992. “National Identity and the Idea of European Unity, International Affairs, 68 (1), pp. 55-76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snyder, Timothy, 2003. The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569-1999 (New Haven, Yale University Press).Google Scholar
Strutyński, Maciej, 2006. Religia i naród. Inspiracje katolickie w myśli ruchu narodowego w Polsce współczesnej (1989-2001) [Religion and Nation. The Catholic Inspirations of Nationalist Thinking in Contempory Poland (1989-2001)] (Kraków, Nomos).Google Scholar
Szabó, Ildikó, 2007. “A nemzet fogalmi konstrukciója a Fidesz diskurzusaiban 1998 és 2006 között” [“The Conceptual Construction of the Nation in Fidesz’s Discourses between 1998 and 2006”], Politikatudomány Szemle, 16 (3), pp. 129-159.Google Scholar
Szőcs, László, 1998. “A Tale of the Unexpected: The Extreme Right vis-à-vis Democracy in Post-Communist Hungary”, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 21 (6), pp. 1096-1115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taggart, Paul and Szczerbiak, Aleks, 2002. “Europeanisation, Euroscepticism and Party systems: Party-based Euroscepticism in the Candidate States of Central and Eastern Europe”, Perspectives on European Politics and Society, 3 (1), pp. 23-41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tóth, Judit, 2003. “Connections of Kin-Minorities to the Kin-State in the Extended Schengen Zone”, European Journal of Migration and Law, 5 (1), pp. 201-227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vachudova, Milada Anna, 2005. Europe Undivided: Democracy, Leverage, and Integration after Communism (Oxford, Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verdery, Katherine, 1994. “Beyond the Nation in Eastern Europe”, Social Text, 38, pp. 1-19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vermeersch, Peter, 2010. “Contesting Europe: Strategies and Legacies in Polish Political Competition”, Europe-Asia Studies, 62 (2), pp. 503-522.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waterbury, Myra A., 2006. “Internal Exclusion, External Inclusion: Diaspora Politics and Party-Building Strategies in Post-Communist Hungary”, East European Politics and Societies, 20 (3), pp. 483-515.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waterbury, Myra A., 2008. “Uncertain Norms, Unintended Consequences: The Effects of European Union Integration on Kin-State Politics in Eastern Europe”, Ethnopolitics, 7 (2-3), pp. 217-238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weaver, Eric Beckett, 2006. National Narcissism: The Intersection of the Nationalist Cult and Gender in Hungary (Oxford, Peter Lang).Google Scholar
Weaver, Eric Beckett, 2007. “The Communist Legacy? Populist but not Popular – The Foreign Policies of the Hungarian Radical Right” in Liang, Christina Schori, ed., Europe for the Europeans: The Foreign and Security Policy of the Populist Radical Right (Aldershot, Ashgate).Google Scholar
Zaremba, Marcin, 2001. Komunizm, legitymizacja, nacjonalizm: nacjonalistyczna legitymizacja władzy komunistycznej w Polsce [Communism, Legitimization, Nationalism:The Nationalist Legitimization of Communist Power in Poland], (Warszawa, Wydawnictwo TRIO, Instytut Studiów Politycznych Polskiej Akademii Nauk).Google Scholar
Zielonka, Jan, 2001. “How New Enlarged Borders will Reshape the European UnionJournal of Common Market Studies, 39 (3), pp. 507-536.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zmarz-Koczanowicz, Maria, 2007. Kocham Polskę [I Love Poland], (Warszawa, Polskie Wydawnictwo Audiowizualne).Google Scholar
Zubek, Voytek, 1997. “The Eclipse of Wałęsa’s Political Career”, Europe-Asia Studies, 49 (1), pp. 107-125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar