Péter Huncík: Ethnic immundeficit syndrome

The author in his research focuses on the Hungarian-Hungarian relationship from a social-psychological aspect. He points out that prior to 1989 Hungary was not able to practice a real national politics towards the ethnic Hungarians living outside the borders. In 1989 a serious political and social turning point came about in Central-Eastern-Europe. Due to this change the political elit in Hungary more and more often discussed the destiny and present situation of the ethnic Hungarians. The author talks about these political manifestations and suggests that in most cases solemn tone and a simplified approach was dominant instead of well-functioning solutions. The paper also talks about the so called Hungarian advantage law and its psychological aspects. The author analyzes the relationship between the mother country and the Hungarians living outside the borders after the W. W. I. and the Trianon-pact. He points out that it was a dependent relationship on the part of ethnic Hungarians with all its negative side effects. However, the Hungarian national politics keeps alive and feeds this dependency. This situation keeps the ethnic Hungarians in infancy. The group of symptoms that was brought about by dependency and by this state of infancy is called EIDS (ethnic immundeficit syndrome) by the author. Due to – EIDS – ethnic Hungarians lack many important defensive mechanisms that would help them to communicate, cope and manage their relationship with the political majority. In 2004, certain countries, like Slovakia and Slovenia will join the EU, while others, like Romania and Serbia, will not. The author talks about the situation of the Hungarians living in these countries after joining the European Union. Is it possible to practice a unified Hungarian ethnic politics under such circumstances? The author suggests to the political elit to carry out a comprehensive research in order to get a clear picture about the real needs and expectations of ethnic Hungarians; and also to find out how do Hungarians living in Hungary see the Hungarian minority living outside the borders.