A Study on the Policy for Overseas Hungarian after the Transition from Socialist System

Abstract

The issue of overseas Hungarian citizens arose as a result of World War I and World War II. Hungarians living in the territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire before the First World War were unintentionally 'foreigners' due to the end of World War I with the defeat of Hungary and the establishment of subsequent countries following the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Hungary's overseas citizens problem is a complicated in which the political interests of the Allied Powers and allies, and the victorious and defeated countries are at stake. Hungary's overseas national policy has no choice but to consider complex aspects. Moreover, the situation in Hungary after Hungary became communist in 1949 became a factor that made it impossible to carry out the Hungarian policy for overseas citizens normally. Hungary's policies for foreigners residing abroad are largely divided into the communist period and the post-communist period. During the communist period, the Hungarian government recognized that the problems of Hungarian overseas residents and ethnic minorities were individual issues of the country in which the Hungarians reside, that is, internal issues within the scope of their sovereignty.