<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> Around 30,000 citizens of pre-war Czechoslovakia were persecuted in the Soviet Union, at least 5.000 originated from Czech lands. One of the groups consist of the people who in the period of 1939-1942 sought refuge in the USSR from German or Hungarian Nazism, or who wanted to actively fight against it. They ended up in the Gulag, from which they were freed during an amnesty linked to the creation of a Czechoslovak unit in the USSR. Many were Czechoslovak Jews, including those who escaped from the Nazi concentration camp in Poland. Nisko, while thousands were inhabitants of Carpathian Ruthenia. </abstract>

A Repression of Czechoslovak Citizens in the USSR

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> In this paper, we will attempt to outline the process of how the nationality/minority rights, especially the minority language rights, were changed in the former Yugoslavia in the next period of times: … and how they have changed in Serbia since 1990, and in Vojvodina. We present the most significant constitutional and legal changes, their impact on the institutional and everyday life, and the language policy tendencies.Finally, we discuss how the formation of the Serbian National Councils have shaped the linguistic rights of minorities in Vojvodina, in particularly after 2009, through examining the work, experiences, and the strategy of the Hungarian National Council and the Hungarians living there.</abstract>

Language Politics and Language Rights on the Territory of Former Yugoslavia the Today’s Serbia/Vojvodina

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>In his book <italic>Linguistic Justice for Europe and the World</italic>, Van Parijs analyses in one of his chapters the brain drain from non-Anglophone to Anglophone countries, which hurts the economic development of the non-Anglophone states. Van Parijs deems it clear that English is a very important factor to explain high-skilled migration. He, therefore, urges the non-Anglophone countries to relax their linguistic territorial constraints and allow English as a communication language in many different sectors, most notably higher education and scientific research. This would remove the incentive for potential expatriate brains to migrate for linguistic reasons. This article takes a closer look at Van Parijs’ reasoning and proposed solutions. It is concluded that the assumed connection between English and high-skilled migration cannot be proven empirically for research on this topic is scarcely available. Furthermore, the solutions presented by Van Parijs will produce uncertain results at best. Van Parijs rightfully puts the brain drain problem on the political and research agenda, but much more additional studies are needed to formulate solid solutions.</abstract>

English and the Brain Drain: an Uncertain Relationship

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>This paper draws on an empirical research on the acculturation of Hungarian refugees in the Netherlands. After the bloody repression of the Hungarian uprising against the Soviet rule in 1956, approximately 200,000 people escaped Hungary. Out of them, 5,000 people started a new life in the Netherlands. Despite extensive documentation and memoirs, no systematic research exists on the fate of these Hungarians. With this research, we attempt to fill this knowledge gap by gaining insight into their integration path. By applying a qualitative–interpretative research method, we gathered personal narratives from Hungarian (‘ex-’) refugees in the Netherlands. We analyse their incorporation into the Dutch society according to various acculturation theories and discuss the (contextual) circumstances influencing these dynamics. The findings show that these Hungarians have successfully acculturated into the host society. They got entirely embedded in the institutional, sociocultural, and economic fabric of their new home country (assimilation) while also maintaining their original culture and identity (integration). Determining factors are the reception and opportunity structure in the host country, the refugees’ young age and willing attitudes to integrate, their grown hybrid identities as well as cultural compatibility.</abstract>

Politically Motivated Hungarian Migration to the Netherlands in (the Second Half of) the 20th Century: Data, Concepts, and Consequences

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> This article gives an overview of the actual situation of language rights in Slovakia, focusing mainly on the minority language usage. The status of minority languages in Slovakia is still a politicized question and a series of conflicts arose especially between Slovak political elites and the representatives of ethnic Hungarians because of the controversial legislation of minority language rights. Slovakia was subjected in the field of minority protection and heavily criticized during the adoption of the State Language Law. Strict regulations on the use of state language have negative effects on the use of minority languages as well. In spite of the fact that in 1999 the Law on Use of Minority Languages was adopted and Slovakia ratified all of the international agreements in this field, the problem of minority language usage was not solved. This legal vacuum motivated the Hungarian civil sphere to take alternative actions in order to ensure bilingualism and promote the use of minority languages in official communication. Summarizing the legal accommodation of minority language rights, this paper is devoted to examine a recently less-observed civil activism supporting the use of regional languages in Slovakia.</abstract>

If Yes, Why Not? Minority Language Use and Accommodation of Minority Language Rights in Slovakia

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>This text re-constructs the evolution of anticommunist ideas and practices during the period of Romania’s ‘great union’, while it also sketches the international context that enabled this evolution. It is a genealogical discourse analysis that serves for a better understanding of Romania’s present political and social climate. The political, diplomatic and military process of crafting ‘Greater Romania’ between 1918 and 1919 rested fundamentally on the anticommunist discourse. This discourse functioned as a pretext for the armed interventions in the desired territories. It also helped to securitize and pacify these three territories. The Romanian army entered Bessarabia, Bukovina, and Transylvania with the goal of protecting the local population against Bolshevik disorders and ‘anarchy’. The anticommunist discourse evolved from the panic generated by retreating Russian soldiers and the ‘anarchy’ they created towards the fear of contagion with the revolutionary ‘psychosis’. The answer to the communist threat was invariably violent and militaristic in nature. The ideas and issues raised by the communists were never legitimized as a political project but as a crime and a pathology that could destroy society. In this context, what we now refer to as ‘the Great Union’ was largely the substitution of social and economic projects with the hegemonic narrative of anti-communism.</abstract>

Romania’s Great Union and the Anti-Communist Discourse

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
The pharmaceutical market is in a constant state of dynamism. There have been many changes in the market recently, and the business environment has changed, one of the most important factors driving the market being consumer behaviour and habits. Trends towards a healthier lifestyle are reflected in changes in purchasing behaviour, with the consumption of dietary supplements becoming increasingly popular. Within the pharmaceutical supply chain, the analysis focuses on pharmacies. The aim of the study is to describe the market changes affecting pharmacy retailing, in particular the effects of changing consumer habits and more conscious purchasing and the impact of the strong presence of players outside the supply chain on pharmacy turnover.
</abstract>

Market Changes in the Pharmaceutical Industry

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
In this study, we compare the socio-demographic background of Hungarian higher education students in the field of agriculture with that of students in other fields, and we also examine students’ career consciousness based on data from a large-sample survey conducted in Eastern Hungary in 2019. We found that in the field of agriculture 63.6% of the students were male and 64. 8% came from smaller settlements, which may be explained by the nature of the agricultural field. Regarding career consciousness, we found that while agricultural students come to higher education with the hope of obtaining a well-paying, high-prestige job, they usually do not engage in career-oriented activities and achievements during their studies.
</abstract>

Socio-demographic Background and Career Consciousness of Students in Agricultural Higher Education in Eastern Hungary

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
Since the 1980s, almost all of the Hungarian narrow-gauge railway lines underwent a complete change of function. About 120-140 years ago, narrow-gauge railways were created mainly for economic purposes. Nowadays, with a few exceptions, freight operation is completely eliminated and replaced by tourism. In my study, I deal with two questions: on the one hand, I will examine the place of the existing narrow-gauge railways in the tourism system. In this context, I will present the tourism potential of narrow-gauge railways. These include, for example, the availability of narrow-gauge railways, their inclusion in the wider tourism system, the material conditions of the basic infrastructure of narrow-gauge railways, etc. On the other hand, by presenting four railway lines from South Transdanubia, I will examine how well the opportunities offered by tourism have been exploited at the local level, what the impact of narrow-gauge railways is on tourism, and what the tourism-related significance of these lines is at all. Based on my analysis, it can be concluded that the narrow-gauge railway sector is developing within the tourism system, and compared to the period before the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2021), investments, technical developments, and attendance have also increased. It is also clear from the South Transdanubian cases that the narrow-gauge railway system is becoming more and more important especially where it can be connected to other tourist attractions (natural parks, forest schools, etc. ), which is also evident in the attendance indicators.
</abstract>

Exploitation of Narrow-Gauge Railways for Tourism in the South Transdanubian Region

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
The 2010s saw a gradual improvement in economic growth in Hungary, which was noticeable in all regions. In this research, we examine the post-crisis economic development trends in a NUTS 3 level disaggregation in the context of the dependent market economy model. The research uses descriptive and multivariate statistical analysis to shed light on the main regional trends. Notable changes occurred mainly in the top and middle performing counties in terms of output, while the bottom of the ranking was characterized by stagnation. Territorial disparities have temporarily narrowed, but there has been no significant catching up of lagging regions.
</abstract>

Drivers of Regional Economic Growth in Hungary before and during the Pandemic Crisis

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
In this paper, we introduce research results from our network-approach-based investigation of the European Union defence cooperation projects. After brief remarks on the background, the research problem, the conceptual and methodological issues, we focus on the structure of the cooperation network and introduce the territorial, institutional, and (sub)regional patterns of partnerships. The data analyses illustrate that an integrated but fragmented cooperation network could be explored, and in several aspects remarkable differences can be measured on country-, regional, and sub-regional levels implying that territorial and institutional factors might have an important role in this specific area as well.
</abstract>

Patterns of Cooperation in the European Defence Sector – A Network-Approach-Based Investigation of EU Projects

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
Our article examines the changes in the economic position of a Hungarian secondary city, Pécs, and its region in the post-crisis period from a labour productivity perspective. Our aim is to contrast results based on data of the city’s largest local firms from the Orbis Europe enterprise database with the results based on the EuroStat regional database. We assess local trends in a sectoral disaggregation and focus on the period between the two crises. Our results suggest that Pécs and its region face a persistent difficulty in attracting external resources and in retaining and generating endogenous resources.
</abstract>

Labour Productivity in a Central and Eastern European Secondary City – Evidence from Regional and Firm-Level Data

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> This paper is an elaboration of a theoretical framework we developed in the introductory chapter of our co-edited volume, State Traditions and Language Regimes (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2015). Using a historical institutionalism approach derived from political science, we argue that language policies need to be understood in terms of their historical and institutional context. The concept of ‘state tradition’ focuses our attention on the relative autonomy of the state in terms of its normative and institutional traditions that lead to particular path dependencies of language policy choices, subject to change at critical junctures. ‘Language regime’ is the conceptual link between state traditions and language policy choices: it allows us to analytically conceptualize how and why these choices are made and how and why they change. We suggest that our framework offers a more robust analysis of language politics than other approaches found in sociolinguistics and normative theory. It also challenges political science to become more engaged with scholarly debate on language policy and linguistic diversity.</abstract>

State Traditions and Language Regimes: A Historical Institutionalism Approach to Language Policy

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>The central argument of this paper is that radical and opposing interpretations of the Ukrainian conflict in politics and media should be studied as offspring of broader narratives. These narratives can be better understood by examining the national identity of Ukraine. Since Ukrainian national identity shows a high degree of diversity, it offers a rich source of arguments for any party wanting to give an interpretation of the present Ukrainian crisis. Narratives explaining the crisis often ignore this complex diversity or deliberately use elements from it to construct the ‘desired’ narrative.Firstly, this paper defines four overarching narratives used in the current debate: the geopolitical, the nationalist, the structuralist, and the legal narrative. Secondly, this paper shows how various interpretations fitting within these narratives are all one way or another related to the divisions dividing Ukraine’s complex national identity. Examining the underlying divisions helps to explain the appeal of differing interpretations of the conflict in the West, Ukraine, and Russia. Especially the nationalist narrative and geopolitical narratives show how the complexity of Ukraine’s national identity is deliberately used to construct a narrative.The combined study of constructed narratives and Ukrainian national identity thus provides valuable material for any scholar or policymaker looking for a deeper understanding of the situation in Ukraine amidst a confusing information war.</abstract>

Understanding the Narratives Explaining the Ukrainian Crisis: Identity Divisions and Complex Diversity in Ukraine

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>Minority rights instruments have been traditionally applied to old minority groups. This paper examines to what extent these same instruments are conceptually meaningful to the integration of new minorities stemming from migration. The conviction that minority groups, irrespective of their being old or new minorities, have some basic common claims that can be subsumed under a common definition does not mean that all minority groups have all the same rights and legitimate claims: some have only minimum rights, while others have or should be granted more substantial rights; some can legitimately put forward certain claims – not enforceable rights – that need to be negotiated with the majority, while others should not. In order to devise a common but differentiated set of rights and obligations for old and new minority groups, it is essential to analyse the differences and similarities of both categories of minorities, their claims, needs, and priorities; in this way, it will be possible to delineate a catalogue of rights that can be demanded by and granted to different minority groups. Studying the interaction between traditional minorities and migrants or old and new minority groups is a rather new task because so far these topics have been studied in isolation from each other. It is also an important task for future research in Europe since many states have established systems for the rights of old minorities but have not as yet developed sound policies for the integration of new minority groups stemming from migration.</abstract>

Old and New Minorities: Diversity Governance and Social Cohesion from the Perspective of Minority Rights

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> One of the key concepts of the MIME (Mobility and Inclusion in Multilingual Europe) project is, obviously, ‘inclusion’. However, precisely describing what the concept means is not as straightforward as it may seem. It has been used in different contexts in scientific literature. This paper attempts to contribute to the enfolding MIME-framework by critically reflecting upon the definition of ‘inclusion’. Drawing upon theories of acculturation, three core concepts in minority literature, namely ‘assimilation,’ ‘integration,’ and ‘inclusion’ will be examined, and their differences demarcated. In the light of recent developments, such as transnationalism, it will be determined which concept is best suited to analyse contemporary accommodation processes of minorities in their countries of residence. After examining the trade-off between mobility and inclusion, a central topic in all MIMErelated research, some general conclusions about ‘inclusion’ and diversitymanagement will be drawn.</abstract>

Beyond Assimilation and Integration: The Shift to ‘National’ and ‘Transnational’ Inclusion

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>Should English be promoted as a worldwide lingua franca for justice-related reasons? Philippe Van Parijs answers affirmatively in order to promote global distributive justice. In contrast, I argue that a rapid expansion of English could lead to one undesirable consequence that ought to be prevented: the globalization of an Anglo-American life-world that impoverishes democratic-deliberative debates. Inspired by John Stuart Mill, I will defend the idea that the more dominant the Anglo-American life-world is, the less diversity of life-worlds and, therefore, the less diversity of substantial voices in the global democratic-deliberative process there will be. It might be that more voices could be heard (because of the lingua franca), but with less substantial diversity of opinions. In that sense, the life-worlds (and language as an access key to them) have an instrumental value that enables plurality and better deliberative discussion. For that reason, I contend that there is a <italic>pro tanto</italic> reason to prevent the expansion of English as a lingua franca.</abstract>

Why Should We Prevent a Global Anglo-American Life-World? A Democratic-Deliberative Answer

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>The article is a brief evaluation of the regulatory environment of language use in Transylvania, Romania based on Van Parijs’ conceptual toolkit presented in his 2011 book <italic>Linguistic Justice for Europe and for the World</italic>. This linguistic regime is a coercive hybrid regulation containing elements stemming from both the categorical regime (personality principle) and territoriality. In municipalities or counties where the official use of minority languages is permitted, it is typically present in a conjunctive manner, but its enforcement is weak and inconsistent. The principle of territorially coercive linguistic subdivision – proposed by Van Parijs as an optimal solution for a greater linguistic justice – is not accommodated in any of the fields of official communication and under present political circumstances it has no further plausibility. A hypothetical alternative for the territorially coercive regime would be the introduction of English as a lingua franca in interethnic communication. We argued that this latter option would be fair only if English could entirely replace the official languages currently in use or it would receive a fully equivalent status at least in those regions where a considerable number of linguistic minorities live.</abstract>

Linguistic Justice and English as a Lingua Franca from a Minority Perspective

Buy Print

Editorial Policy

Instructions for Authors

Open Access License

Peer Review Process

Copyright Agreement

Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, European and Regional Studies

The Journal of Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania

Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, European and Regional Studies publishes original papers and surveys concerning the historical development, the economic, societal, political and philosophical...

Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, European and Regional Studies publishes original papers and surveys concerning the historical development, the economic,...