Balázs Majtényi examines two Hungarian cases before the European Court of Human Rights. Bakirdzi and E.C. v. Hungary deals with the preferential representation of national minorities in the parliament, while Zsófia Vámos v. Hungary concerns the rights of Hungarians living beyond the borders to vote in general elections. The author argues that the Court would need to critically examine the political system when deciding on electoral rules in order not to miss the forest for the trees, i.e. the way authoritarian regimes manipulate elections. The study argues that the low quality of the reasoning in these cases is imputable to the omission of the Court to scrutinize the political system of the authoritarian state and the social context. Such an omission leads to a situation where even judgments against Hungary provide legitimacy to the authoritarian regime.
Csongor István Nagy discusses a neglected aspect of the rule of law debate in Europe, notably the protection of ethnic minorities. He argues that lack of action from European institutions lead to the tacit acceptance of monoethnic visions of certain member states at the expense of the rights of minorities living there. In contrast to other minority groups, the study concludes ethnic minorities are discriminated against when it comes to the application and enforcement of established European non-discrimination standards.
Anna Ujlaki discusses the problem of political obligations and provides a critical account of approaches in normative political theory that use a simplified view of political communities and remain limited to political obligations in liberal democracies. Her study seeks to assess the applicability of the various theories regarding certain global challenges and concludes that none can be seen as valid in all these contexts, which invites further theoretical inquiries.
Eszter Kirs discusses the issue that political socialization of youth is crucial both in the maintenance of an illiberal regime and in the resistance by civil society. The present qualitative study provides insight into the personal motivations of student leaders of a youth resistance movement organized for the protection of academic autonomy against the 'illiberal democracy' of Hungary. The study sought to explore how collective historical memory contributes to political socialization, whether historical reflection was a source of inspiration and whether history education triggered conscious citizenship resulting in the engagement of youth in resistance. Data collection involved interviewing 15 former students of the University of Theatre and Film (Színház- és Filmművészeti Egyetem, SZFE) who played a key role in managing a 71 days long university blockade in 2020. Thematic analysis suggests that history education has the potential to trigger consciousness regarding citizens' responsibility to confront power restricting individual freedoms and institutional autonomy. However, mainstream, alienating history education supported by the government in Hungary did not realize these potentials. Findings can be utilized in further research on the necessity of interactive, engaging history education methodologies to facilitate comparative reflection on history and current public affairs and to encourage conscious and active citizenship in illiberal regimes.
Balázs Dobos argues that the recently institutionalized participation in the work of the National Assembly has at the end given something to national minorities: in the case of the advocates it opened up the possibility for informal lobbying, and created a standing parliamentary committee that not only serves as a useful inter-ethnic forum but has also contributed to a more visible representation of national interests.
László Róbert argues that as long as the government with a two-thirds majority is the beneficiary of a system that distorts national minority representation, there is little reason to expect its democratisation.
According to Balázs Kiss, it is essential to create the possibility of competition between minority candidates in order to enable voters belonging to a national minority to cast their votes not only for the closed national minority list drawn up by their national minority self-government.
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In June 2016, a Syrian man drowned in the Tisza River while trying to cross into Hungary. On 2 February 2023, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg condemned Hungary for violating the right to life and the prohibition of torture and inhuman treatment in a case brought by the deceased's brother. Dániel Karsai's article, after a general presentation of the judgment in Alhowais v Hungary, gives a critical overview of the judgment and presents what he considers to be the correct alternative solution. In the author's view, the Court in this case failed to answer satisfactorily the fundamental question of whether the death was caused by a failure of public authority or by a tragic accident.
This issue's review by Gábor Kardos not only presents the Research Handbook on Compliance in International Human Rights Law, but reflects on why governments implement international human rights recommendations in the age of human rights skepticism, too. ■
Visszaugrás
