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The political representation of Hungary’s ethnic minorities in the context of voter turnouts in the local self-governmental elections and in the parliamentary elections
25-39Views:45The political representation of minorities within a nation-state is a task that has always posed a great challenge to countries with substantial ethnic minorities, since both the hardships of establishing an adequate legislative environment, both the sensitivity of the subject make it exceedingly difficult for the legislator to develop a sufficient system. The issue of the proper representation of those 13 recognised minorities that are considered constituent components ofthe state were part of Hungary’s political history since the regime change, and for a rather long period of time it seemed that the adequate solution for their political representation was the local governmental system of ethnic minorities. Since 2011 however, the electoral system makes it possible for ethnic minorities to be represented within the Hungarian Parliament as well, which raises the question of whether this will shift the attention of the affected minority groups from the local self-governments towards the parliamentary representation. In this paper, after reviewing the changes within the legislative environment and – in close connection with that – the problems surrounding the issue of political representation of ethnic minorities, I will attempt to answer this emerging question through a brief analyses based on the turnout-data regarding the 2014 and the 2019 elections local governmental elections.
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The Changes in political participation among Hungarian youth
25-41Views:51Citizens’ political participation is a key issue of a democratic political system. The starting point of the paper is political participation of young people in democratic institutions is not merely a question of young people’s interest in politics, but also the result of institutional opportunities and mobilization channels that are available for them. The present article aims to interpret the political participation of Hungarian youth is interpreted more broadly than in former studies. On the one hand it shows how a change of attitudes occurred among Hungarian youth concerning the perception of political participation perception. On the other hand it describes the institutional and social context where participation of Hungarian young people is taking place today.
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Territorial integration and development policy. : The case of Vértes Nature Park
41-63.Views:50The paper seeks to understand the influences of development policy initiatives on territorial in-tegration. Through the analysis of Vértes Nature Park case study we aimed at exploring whether the territorial relationships of the stakeholders can be restructured by spatially based develop-ment. The aim of the paper is to present the mechanisms of territorial integration by a case study analysis of rural territorial development.Our findings show that the participation and involvement of stakeholders in rural develop-ment are determined by their role and status in the initiative, thus the initiator actors are the more active ones. The territorial relationships of stakeholders are increased and strengthened by the level of involvement in the activities of Vértes Nature Park. Nevertheless, the territorial closeness also affects the stakeholders’ involvement. Csákvár and its surroundings have central position in this territorial relationship. The acceptance of the principals of the initiatives is also affected by the territorial closeness and it limits the contested development initiatives.
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An example of good practice for integrating youth into the labor market in Hungary
49-66Views:189While there are positive trends in economic growth in the EU Member States, there are also challenges that are a long-term concern. These include, for example, unfavourable labour market dynamics, leading to an increase in social inequalities (Artner 2018). The European Economic and Social Committee stresses that young people can play an important role in addressing inequalities and socio-economic challenges, contributing to the future stability and prosperity of the EU (European Economic and Social Committee 2021). To this end, policies should support young people’s education, training and active participation in the labour market. The Lost Millennials project, coordinated by the HÉTFA Research Institute, and the project “Incorpora - for responsible employment”, implemented by the Maltese Care Nonprofit Ltd. and its partners, will be presented and their results analysed, while the study will also review national and international trends in the NEET group.
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The concept and measurement of health literacy and its effect on breast screening participation
167-185Views:132This study analyses the relationship of low health literacy and non-participation in breast screening. It defines health literacy, discusses its measurement tools, reports on health literacy studies in various populations, describes participation rates in the Hungarian breast screening program, reviews studies dealing with the effect of health literacy on breast screening participation
and makes recommendations for the improvement of health literacy. Health literacy is the ability to gain, understand, and appraise health related information as well as using said information in decision making. There are validated tools for measuring
it. Like in other countries, surveys in Hungary found that the health literacy of the population is rather low. About half of the population has poor or problematic health literacy. -
Peer support instead of community solidarity among people with psychiatric diagnosis: Examining an online, anonymous self-help website
10-33Views:58In our research, we examined the first social networking website in Hungary that was specifically and explicitly designed for people with mental health problems and their relatives, or for people interested in the topic. A unique feature is that in 2021, it will still be possible to register anonymously and post comments on the site. Our research explores the life situations of people diagnosed as psychiatrically ill based on the concept of the recovery model, and therefore a central question for us is how an online self-help, peer support group can contribute to the recovery of individuals. In addition, one of the main hypotheses of our research is that community solidarity towards people with a psychiatric diagnosis is very low at different levels of society, and therefore self-help and peer support, also provided by the site we are investigating, may be of particular importance for the people concerned. We assume that they are a group that is highly stigmatised and socially rejected. In the media they are typically either invisible or portrayed as violent, aggressive figures. The Covid19 epidemic situation has led to many people experiencing psychological difficulties because of quarantine or the long-term side effects of the virus itself, which have been thematised in the media, but we believe that the mechanisms of solidarity with those diagnosed as psychiatric patients have not fundamentally changed (see for example the first establishment of psychiatric hospital wards
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Hopes and concerns of democratization: Ideas about popular vote in Hungarian political discourse 1985–1989
5-27Views:85The article analyzes the political discourse concerning direct democracy between 1985–89, when the issue of introducing popular vote at local and national level became relevant, both as a general institutional reform of political decision-making, and as the result of some major initiatives launched by social movements. The analysis covers the related law journal articles, party-state documents, the writings of political and intellectual elites (including the opposition), and the wider public (mainly daily and weekly newspapers). The discourse analysis is based on the academic literature of direct democracy and some new aspects, like the timing of introducing direct democracy, its role and perspectives, the consideration of threats and benefits, and the relevance of international examples as possible models for reform. The paper finds that the opposition and the party-state regarded the introduction of popular vote differently: while the emerging opposition emphasised the function of controling the state power by popular votes, the party-state expected to stop shrinking its social legitimacy. Meanwhile, general public seemed to be indifferent about this remarkable democratic reform.
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Mobilization incongruence in the Hungarian local electioms
5-24Views:41In local elections, national voting patterns are often not repeated as results show significant incongruence in terms of turnout, party performance and seat shares. Political science explains these various differences with several distinct theoretical frameworks that approach this incongruence from the aspect of voter behavior. The aim of this study is not to provide an alternative for these conventional explanations but to complement them with the detailed analysis of mobilization in an attempt to clear up certain gaps in the models. My main proposition is that parties can mobilize their supporters for the local elections with differing effectiveness producing incongruence in voter turnout and seat shares. In the capital and in the larger cities there is a mobilization gap mainly affecting left-wing voters that causes lower turnout and weaker electoral performance by these parties. This gap can most probably be explained by a combination of social and institutional factors and has a profound effect on election outcomes.
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Participatory research of social issues: practical experience from a research project on homelessness
40-61Views:115This article is an account of our practical research and cooperation experience from a
participatory research project on homelessness and psychosocial disability carried out in a
Hungarian university context, by a student and two experts by experience in a researcher role.
We argue for the involvement of disadvantaged people using social services in research related
to disadvantaged people and social services, highlighting the advantages and challenges of this
kind of research based on our experience. Finally, we formulate practical recommendations that
migh be useful for beginners – like we used to be – in participatory research in this field. -
Kint és bent háromszor
178-184Views:37A négy határmenti településen zajló kutatás eredményeit közreadó tanulmány azt a
kérdést járja körül, hogy a peremhelyzetű gazdasági térségekben milyen együttélési
formációk, munkamegosztási gyakorlatok jöttek létre a rendszerváltás után. Vagyis,
hogy a gazdasági szerkezetváltozás következtében jelentőségüket vesztő mezőgazdasági és ipari központok vonzáskörzetében található települések hogyan rendeződtek át demográfiai, etnika és életszervezési szempontból, illetve hogy az egyes
társadalmi csoportok boldogulásában milyen mértékben meghatározó az informális
gazdaságban való részvétel.
A szerzők a településtípusok leírásával arra keresik a választ, hogy az átalakuló
körülmények miként befolyásolták a határmenti községek3
lakóinak identitását, a
kooperációk és kizárások mechanizmusai milyen szerepet játszanak a falusi szomszédságok hétköznapjaiban. A társadalmi folyamatok vizsgálata nem elsősorban a
kultúrára, sokkal inkább a közösségi szerveződés formáira koncentrál. A peremhelyzet hármassága – országhatár, etnikai határok, az informális gazdaság határai – ha
különbözőképpen is, de a vizsgált települések mindegyikére hatással van.
