Volumen 21 (2022): Edición 1 (November 2022)

Active citizenship, critical citizenship, digital citizenship, global citizenship: just a few from the concepts that have shaped the debate about citizenship in the past decades. While these concepts have dominated both the academic and the public discourse and had implications for citizenship education in mature democracies, they often seem to be far away from the lived realities of many Eastern European new democracies. In these countries, debates about citizenship have been burdened with the legacies of the non-democratic past, and even citizenship education has been marginalized for a long time. This paper introduces the Hungarian case and aims to contribute to the theoretical debates about the concept of the good citizen by reflecting on the peculiarities of a post-socialist new democracy.

As a result of the first free and democratic elections in Hungary, in May 1990, József Antall formed a government, whose foreign policy goal was the restoration of the sovereignty of Hungary and the support and representation of the Euro-Atlantic integration and of the Hungarians across the border. In the Hungarian–Czechoslovak bilateral relations, the new Hungarian government’s aim was to expand the political relations in both federal and republican levels. It was Hungary’s interest that serious legacies, such as the issue of the Bős– Nagymaros Dam system, should not hold back the general advance, wherefore a solution appropriate for both parties had to be found. Hungary considered Czechoslovakia as an outstanding economic partner. The Antall government took steps so that the fate and future of the Slovakian Hungarians would be ensured in accordance with the European development standards. One of the key issues in this was the consistent Czechoslovak condemnation of the principle of collective guilt, the Beneš decrees. During the dialogues, certain elements of the common historical past returned several times.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020, the emerging economic uncertainty, a declining trust, digital solutions, and the home office have changed consumer behaviour, including food-buying habits. Given that the epidemic in Central and Eastern Europe has developed differently due to territorial differences, we have focused our study on the comparative analysis of two countries. The aim of our research was to examine the food purchase habits during the first wave of the pandemic together with consumer decisions and their motivations emerged due to the epidemic among the Hungarian urban population of two countries. In the present study, we conducted a survey among Hungarian urban consumers in Romania and among the urban population in Hungary at the beginning of the pandemic when lockdown was implemented. Over a two-month period, we collected more than 2,000 completed questionnaires.

The southernmost part of Vojvodina is the Syrmia region. The Hungarian presence here is only sporadic. The area is the most Serbian part of Vojvodina. The central settlement of the Hungarian diaspora in the region is Maradék. Maradék is the last stronghold of local Hungarian culture. The settlement is home to the Petőfi Sándor Cultural Association. The Association is the dominant community of the Hungarian culture in the Syrmia region. The local primary school has a Hungarian-language class, which is unique in the region. Maradék was also the economic centre of the region’s Hungarian population. However, historical and economic changes have had a very negative impact on the settlement. Living in Maradék is difficult, and many people, especially Hungarians, are moving away.

The present study examines the dilemma of the Calvinists living in Transcarpathia (which became part of the Soviet Union in 1946) that arose following its annexation to the Soviet Empire. The problem was caused by the fact that among the Protestant denominations in the Soviet Union in 1946-47, only Evangelical Christians-Baptists (ECB) had state registration, i.e. a legal operating licence. The study aims at revealing the dialectics of the dilemma arising among the Calvinists, according to which, in order to survive, they should either align with the ECB (i.e. imperial expectations) or, alternatively, even take the risk of termination and maintain their denominational separation. In addition, the research brings insights into how the choice of the Calvinists was influenced by the denominational autonomy and national traditions that had been enjoyed until then. The state authorities would have provided a chance for an easier and routine-like solution of the problem and classify the nearly 80,000 Reformed community members in Transcarpathia as ECB. However, the case generated an unexpected problem even in the Soviet bureaucratic system as the denominational affiliation was also linked to the issue of nationality. Therefore, at the state level, it was a problem of both a religious belief and national belonging. Likewise, the study highlights the extent to which the response of the religious minority in the present case was about religious affiliation and ethnicity. Finally, the present paper considers how the state’s primary project had ultimately changed when exploring the dilemma and what conclusions and outcomes it entailed.