Hungary’s global opening to an interpolar world

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12797/Politeja.11.2014.28.06

Keywords:

Hungary, foreign policy, global opening, Eastern turn

Abstract

This study wishes to contribute to the relatively limited circle of academic publications on Hungary’s foreign policy – in particular, in the second decade of the twenty‑first century. First, it looks at major foreign policy priorities since the change of the political system in 1989 and their maintenance in the country’s external affairs policy agenda, together with the omnipresent desire to get re‑positioned “rightly”, “back” into the international community. The intention of the authors is to investigate the validity and possible execution of a “global opening” in an increasingly “interpolar globality”, and therefore, to provide a detailed analysis of the Hungarian “turn towards to East”. The new foreign policy document of the country contains a re‑positioning of Hungarian presence in five priority regions of the world, among which emphasis has obviously been laid on Central Europe and the Visegrád Group. The paper offers a critical analysis of both the potentials and challenges of the global opening.

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Author Biographies

  • István Tarrósy, University of Pecs

    Assistant Professor of Political Science and Director of the Africa Research Centre, Department of Political Science and International Studies, University of Pécs. He is owner and director of the independent think‑tank IDResearch. Fulbright Visiting Scholar and Hungarian Eötvös Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Florida in 2013 and early 2014. Associate editor of the Hungarian journal of African Studies. His publications include: ‘African Immigrants in Hungary: Connection with the New National Foreign Policy’ Society and Economy (2014); ‘Global Opening for Hungary – New Beginning for Hungarian Africa Policy’, African Studies Quarterly (2013); ‘Two Giants on the Same Soil: A Closer Look at Afro‑Asian Relations via Comparing Chinese and Japanese Involvement in Tanzania’, Portuguese Journal of International Affairs (2012); The African State in a Changing Global Context. Breakdowns and Transformations (co‑edited, 2010); and ‘Need for Non‑Alignment in Our Global World? The Non‑Aligned Movement Today and Tomorrow’, Croatian International Relations Review (2005).

  • Zoltán Vörös, University of Pecs

    PhD student at the Department of Political Science and International Studies, University of Pécs. He works at the independent think‑tank IDResearch, and is member of the editorial board of the Hungarian journal of African Studies. Hungarian National Excellence Programme Grantee in 2013. His publications include: ‘China Rising, Beijing in the 21st Century with Hungary on their Map’, Tradecraft Review (2011); ‘An Overview of EU‑China Relations: From the Race for Energy Security to the Development of Soft Power and Public Diplomacy’ in Chinese‑European Cooperation for a Long‑Term Sustainability. Corvinus University of Budapest (co‑authored, 2012); Az átalakuló világrend küszöbén (co‑edited, 2013); and ‘Segíti‑e a fenntartható fejlődést Kína afrikai szerepvállalása?’ in Fenntartható Afrika (2010).

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Published

17-04-2014

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How to Cite

“Hungary’s Global Opening to an Interpolar World”. 2014. Politeja 11 (2(28): 139-62. https://doi.org/10.12797/Politeja.11.2014.28.06.