The paper deals with two items (entry) of the interwar Hungarian lexicon for literature: the first item focused on the Slovak literature, the second item focused on the Hungarian literature in Czechoslovakia. The editor of lexicon was well-known Hungarian historian of literature, Marcell Benedek. The author of Slovak item was Juraj Podhradský, who was the civil servant of Hungarian public administration with Slovak origin. In spite of the old terminology, from the item about the Slovak literature is missing the Hungarian stereotypes about the Slovaks and Slovak literature.
Since the birth of modern republics, the post of the president of the republic has had important symbolic content. It is a powerful symbol of republicanism. The presidents of most republics have inherited many characteristics of previous dynastic rulers, as their partly similar functions - representing the state in and outside the country, symbolising the unity of the nation and in periods of crisis, guaranteeing the continuity of state power. The paper is concerning on the Hungarian constitutional development in the 20th century and especially after 2011. Symbolism of the new Fundamental Law of Hungary is very strong and the position of president is central in this process.
The article concentrates on the image and reception of Slovak literature in specialised Hungarian-language texts from the period of Austro-Hungarian Compromise. In the history of Slovak-Hungarian relations, this period was one of the most complicated: the middle classes were being assimilated speedily and the Slovak culture was under intense pressure of the state and Hungarian culture. The first comprehensive publication on Slovak literature in this period was written by Imre Gáspár as early as in 1879, but it remained without much feedback. Subsequent articles and encyclopaedic entries were penned by Slovak authors who either worked in Budapest as civil servants (Samo Czambel, Adolf Pechány) or were based directly in Martin, Slovakia (Jozef Škultéty). Škultéty was invited to write on Slovak literature by the Budapest-based professor Oszkár Asbóth who also authored a journal article on Svetozár Hurban Vajanský. Despite differences in authors’ social and cultural backgrounds, the narrative texts share several similarities: in the introduction, they provide a general overview of the history of the Slovak language and literature and then deal with outer-literary aspects in the works of a few authors and looked for similarities. The works written by Ján Hollý and Andrej Sládkovič were held in especially high esteem.
Przyjęcie nowej węgierskej Ustawy zasadniczej było możliwe, ponieważ konserwatywno-prawicowa koalicja partii Fidesz i chrześcijańskich demokratów (KDNP) uzyskała w 2010 w parlamencie większość dwóch trzecich głosów. W preambule wzięto pod uwagę głównie chrześcijańsko-konserwatywny i narodowy punkt widzenia historii i polityki. Jej tekst charakteryzuje się ideologicznością, historycyzmem i pewnym archaizmem terminologicznym. Częścią składową tego trendu jest również ponowne włączenie Świętej Korony do tekstu konstytucji i powrót do koncepcji konstytucji historycznej. Po zmianie systemu w 1989 r. zainteresowanie koroną i jej znaczenie symboliczne zaczęło szybko rosnąć. Do rzeczywistej publicznoprawnej „reaktywacji” i „rehabilitacji” Świętej Korony doszło dopiero w procesie ustawodawczym po 2010 r. W Ustawie zasadniczej z 2011 r. Święta Korona pojawia się dwukrotnie – najpierw w preambule, a następnie w części normatywnej poświęconej symbolice państwowej. Uznanie Świętej Korony za symbol konstytucyjno-państwowej ciągłości i jedności narodu jest w tej formie nowym elementem we współczesnym węgierskim porządku prawnym.
EN
The adoption of the new Hungarian Fundamental Law is a result of the victory of right wing and conservative coalition (Fidesz–KDNP) in the election of 2010. The cristian-conservative and national point of view of the history and policy is characteristic for the preamble of Fundamental Law. Its text is very ideological, historical and archaical. The part of this trend is the reincorporation of the Hungarian Saint Crown to the text of Fundamental Law and paralelly the revitalization of the theory of historical constitution too. The interest to the Crown and its symbolical meaning has growed directly after the transition in 1989, but the certain „rehabilitation” and „reactivation” of the Saint Crown in the public law is the result of the constitution-making after 2010. The recognition of Saint Crown as a symbol of the constitutional/state continuity and unity of nation is in this form the new element in the current legal order of Hungary.
The study focuses on the first women MPs and ministers in Central Europe. Before the First World War, the women’s suffrage movement had also emerged here, but had not yet achieved any great success. The real turning point for women’s representation came with the First World War. In 1918 and 1919, women throughout the region were granted the right to vote and to elect representatives at parliamentary level. In Austria, and in part of Czechoslovakia, it was mainly women from the Social Democratic movement who played a decisive role. In these two countries, the proportions were similar in the early years. Women elected to the first Polish parliament were more mixed. Most of them came from the Polish independence movement and generally had intellectual family backgrounds. By contrast, the majority of the Austrian Social Democrat women MPs were indeed from working-class backgrounds. In the conservative Hungary between the two world wars, there were also women members of parliament, but in very limited numbers. This was probably related to the particularities of the system and society of the time. Finally, the study also deals with women in government (ministers, state secretaries). Here again, it was mainly women from the left who played a pioneering role.
Elections were a stable part of Hungarian political culture even before the eventful year of 1848. As such they were reflected in individual national literatures written in Hungary – especially in the Hungarian and Slovak ones. The novel by Ján Kalinčiak (1822 – 1871) Reštavrácia ([County elections], 1860) was thus not the only literary text that portrayed these events. In 1842, the popular Hungarian playwright Ignác Nagy (1810 – 1854) published a comedy under the same title. The novel by Ján Kalinčiak, despite the fact that it was published later, is much less political in its nature than Nagy’s play which in the context of county elections addressed such issues as the emancipation of women, the rights of Jews and the elimination of the political monopoly and tax advantages enjoyed by the gentry. Kalinčiak was primarily concerned with portraying a familial dispute between two gentry families in a fictitious county in northern Hungary. The dispute was resolved harmoniously and the national issues were addressed only marginally. Nevertheless, the novel and the play still have a lot in common. Besides the described social environment and the character of the main plot, these concern the frequent use of Latin expressions and dated language in general, the relatively realistic description of the events, frequent humorous motives, and the fact that the ending bears features of Biedermeier style.
The paper deals with the political and social circumstances of the Hungarian constitutional moment in 2011. This time Hungary adopted the new Fundamental Law, which has started the new period in the political life of country. The constitution making did not play the role in the electoral campaign, but the achievement of the constitutional majority by Fidesz-KDNP coalition has guaranteed the possibility for the long time changes. The constitutional majority has interpreted the adoption of Fundamental Law as a beginning of the period after two decades of chaotic transition. The constitution making process was accompanied also with policy of artistic popularization of constitutional text. Director of theatre Imre Kerényi played the crucial role in this process. The idea of the special illustrated book mixing the constitutional text and pictures with historical topics was his idea. The process of popularisation has been criticized by Hungarian opposition and also by former presiden László Sólyom. The paper deals with this topic in the wider context with short comparative perspective.
Hungarian constitutional system has a number of characteristics, including division of power. This is a result atypical evolution of the political system in Hungary after 1989. Most of the countries of Central and Eastern made a thorough reconstruction of the political system in the nineties of the twentieth century, many constitutions were adopted in 1991–1994. Otherwise had done Hungarians, making a 1989 amendment to the Constitution of 1949. and the adoption of a new constitution putting off indefinitely. Completely new Fundamental Law was adopted only in 2011., in force since 1 January 2012. It introduced in the Hungarian constitutional system significant changes, modifying the way the principle the division of powers. The changes seem to be rational, and therefore to be expected that the Hungarian model finds followers.
PL
System konstytucyjny Węgier posiada szereg cech charakterystycznych, także jeśli chodzi o podział władzy. Jest to skutkiem nietypowego przebiegu ewolucji ustroju, jaką przechodziły Węgry po 1989 r. Większość państw Europy Środkowo-wschodniej dokonało gruntownej przebudowy systemu politycznego w latach dziewięćdziesiątych XX w., liczne konstytucje były uchwalane w latach 1991–1994. Inaczej postąpili Węgrzy, dokonując w 1989 nowelizacji Konstytucji z 1949 r., a uchwalenie nowej konstytucji odkładając na bliżej nieokreśloną przyszłość. Zupełnie nowa Ustawa Zasadnicza została uchwalona dopiero w 2011 r., obowiązuje od 1 stycznia 2012 r. Wprowadziła ona w węgierskim systemie konstytucyjnym istotne zmiany, modyfikując także sposób realizacji zasady podziału władz. Przeprowadzone zmiany wydają się jednak racjonalne, a zatem należy się spodziewać, że model węgierski znajdzie naśladowców.
The Hungarian constitutional system after 1989 was initially subject to evolutionary changes. The previously binding constitution was only amended, although in most countries of the region the new constitutions created new system concepts. This also concerned the organisation of the judiciary, which in Hungary for a long time remained under the influence of the doctrine formed in the time of the socialist state. Significant corrections in this respect did not take place until 1997, but the solutions and institutions created at that time — including judicial self-government — survived for only slightly more than a decade. The political parties that came to power in 2010 adopted a new Basic Law and made far-reaching transformations in the field of symbolism, constitutional principles and the system of constitutional organs. Both the scope of the changes and the way they were carried out provoked resistance from various environments, including judges, whose influence on the organisation of the judiciary and its functioning was significantly reduced. The dispute that occurred was the subject of debate throughout Europe, and the institutions of the Council of Europe and the European Union were involved in resolving it.
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