State and organized interests in post-communist Hungarian politics

Abstract

The paper reviews different approaches to the study of both the state and civil society in post-communist East Central Europe and questions the predominant view in the literature that civil society in the region is weak. Existing research has focused on the one hand, on the elitist character of the state and the growing strength of the central executive within government, and on the other hand, on the low levels of grassroots involvement in interest groups and civic associations. Drawing on data from two different research projects on Hungary, one on the state, the other on interest group politics, the paper suggests there is evidence of more effective interest representation and more dynamic inter-relations between state and society than is usually assumed.

Key words:

• State
• interest politics
• civil society
• post-communist
• East Central Europe

Acknowledgements

This paper draws on research funded by University of Strathclyde Research and Development Fund (1995 – 1996) on ‘Interest Formation and Interest Representation in Eastern Europe’, by the British Academy on ‘Interest Representation in Contemporary Hungarian Politics’, 2001 – 2002, and by the Danish Social Sciences Research Council for the DEMSTAR programme.

Notes

¹ For detailed discussion of regulatory regimes, see Majone (1996) and Wilks (1996).

² Both studies explore the succession and circulation of elites in the economy as well as in politics but only the political aspects are drawn on here.

³ For further discussion see Nunberg (1999), Vass (2001) and Verheijen (1999).

⁴ Thus far Pérez-Solórzano Borragán presents an accurate summary of the views put forward in most of the literature on civil society in Eastern Europe. However, in a passage that many in the region will find both condescending and inaccurate, she goes on to claim that ‘post-communist society is composed of deeply individualistic personalities. A legacy of civilisational incompetence has prevented the development of the social and organisational skills that constitute social capital’ (2006, p. 137).

⁵ For further discussion see Howard (2003, chaps 4 and 5).

⁶ For further discussion of the ‘state capture’ thesis, see Hellman et al. (2000).

⁷ For further discussion of these issues see also Cox (2007).

⁸ The DEMSTAR programme (an acronym of Democracy, the State and Administrative Reforms) is developing research on states and state capacities in post-communist and developing countries. A part of this programme focuses on core political and administrative institutions. So far, structured interviews have been conducted with 50 – 70 centrally placed politicians and executives in six countries.

⁹ Within our 1994 sample there were 40 trade union organizations, 24 employers' groups and 48 other groups representing a wider range of different interests. A similar but smaller sample was surveyed in 1998, comprising 14 business associations, 11 unions and 11 other groups. The 2001 sample contained 17 union organizations, 14 employers' organizations and 12 other groups. All three samples included all the union and employers' confederations with seats on the Interest Reconciliation Council. For discussion of some of the results from the first two surveys, see Cox and Vass (2000).

¹⁰ For discussion of the full range of issues discussed in the DEMSTAR study of Hungary see Ilonszki et al. (2002).

¹¹ The majority of ministers also had close encounters with international organizations and foreign governments seeking to influence the Hungarian political process. However, the ministers were split on the issue of whether foreign pressure could be seen as positive or negative. Nevertheless, only 4 of 24 respondents stated that pressure from international organizations and foreign government never had a positive effect on solutions to domestic problems.