Hungarian International Development Cooperation: Context, Stakeholders and Performance1

The research was funded by the following grant: TÁMOP-4.2.1.B-09/1/KMR-2010-0005.

Abstract

This paper explores the domestic and international context of Hungary's emerging international development policy. Specifically, it looks at three factors that may influence how this policy operates: membership in the European Union (EU) and potential ‘Europeanization’, Hungary's wider foreign policy strategy, and the influence of domestic stakeholders. In order to uncover how these factors affect the country's international development policy, semi-structured interviews were carried out with the main stakeholders. The main conclusions are: (1) While accession to the EU did play a crucial role in restarting Hungary's international development policy, the integration has had little effect since then; (2) international development policy seems to serve mainly Hungary's regional strategic foreign policy and economic interests, and not its global development goals; and (3) although all the domestic development stakeholders are rather weak, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) still seems to play a dominating role. Convergence with European requirements and best practices is, therefore, clearly hindered by foreign policy interests and also by the weakness of non- governmental stakeholders.

KeyWords:

• Hungary
• international development cooperation
• foreign aid
• emerging donors
• Europeanization

Notes

The research was funded by the following grant: TÁMOP-4.2.1.B-09/1/KMR-2010-0005.

Hungary was eligible for official aid between 1990 and 2004. During these 15 years, the country received a total of $5.1 billion (at 2009 prices and exchanges rates). On an annual average, this amounted to 0.4–0.5 per cent of Hungary's GDP (World Bank 2011).

The current Hungarian government, in power since 2010 and led by the conservative Fidesz, has signalled the need for a new strategy. However, work on such a strategy has not started and no information on future directions can be found on the website of the government as of late 2011.