Hungary’s Unacknowledged Leadership
OVI Magazine, May 2, 2016
Returning from Hungary, I was impressed by the breadth and depth of the courses offered by the Corvinus Hungarian Business School, which does not play second chair to U.S. universities. The admissions process, the scoring of applications, the transparency of decisions, and the competition for seats, were heartening indications of a market economy.
The country’s strategic position in the heart of Europe, a highly developed logistics system, and traditional role as a trading post make it important as a regional production and distribution center. Porsche, General Motors, and Audi are now producing many of their cars in Hungary—with other suppliers working for and around these popular firms. A recent investment by Mercedes Benz reaffirms the auto cluster formation in Hungary. The significant development of industries such as information technology, electronics, and automotive has attracted Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) at an ever-increasing rate. Hungary’s acceptance as a member of the European Union as well as Schengen Zone further boosted its economic, social, and political development and stimulated more R&D activities.
All this is now jeopardized because of major EU internal strife over immigration policies. I observed the early stage of human flow between Serbia and Hungary, which was a 200-km-long green zone. Groups of 30 to 50 women, children, and men slowly walked across the border. The local chief of police shrugged, since he neither had the manpower nor the physical resources to round up or process the waves of humanity. In 2015, more than 400,000 people entered Hungary from Serbia. They aimed to settle in Germany, France, or Britain. The march through Hungary used to encounter an ostrich policy of “carry on and ignore.” But the people who immigrate were worn out and not any less hungry because they were in Hungary. To rest, or feed themselves, they trespassed on property and took fruits and food. Locals were weary and talked about organized protection for their harvest. Growing pressures and complaints risk sparks in a tinder box.
The government of less than 10 million Hungarians has only limited resources to respond the clashes. A wall has been built to stop the immigration flow across the most accessible border areas. The public response in Europe to Hungary’s defensive measures have been complaints, accusations of government over its reaction, and lack of sympathy toward the conflict. Proactive steps need to be accompanied by targeted help from abroad. Prime Minister Orban, a democratically elected head of government, was accused of a lack of sentimentality and guilty of behavior like a political winner (DUH)!
Hungary is again encountering its traditional environmental ambiguity. For centuries, the country has been too far east to be part of the West, and too far west to be integrated into the East. Throughout its history, there have been long-term occupations by the Tatars, Ottomans, and Austrians. The treaty of Trianon removed large portions of Hungary’s population and resources. During the Cold War, Hungary kept conditions at least lukewarm with its Gulyas communism, and was often at the forefront of clamoring for change, for example, with its 1956 revolution against the Soviet Union, and the opening of its borders to escaping East Germans.
Again Hungary has been an early proponent of the need to monitor access to a country for purposes of justice, information planning, and control. Given its small size and population, repercussions of new factors are simply felt more quickly and demand more rapid actions, when compared to nations which have lots of reserve resources to deal with new conditions—although even those are eventually cognizant of the need for change.
Accusing the Hungarians of inhumanity for their regulation of migration is not very wise. To help or protect nations from the onslaught of humanity, walls have been built already 2000 years ago—just think of the Roman emperor Hadrian or the Chinese Qin Shi Huang. Walls are still being built today, just observe Austria, Serbia, and Turkey. Doing so is not a disregard for human lives, but rather an institutional requirement for control and the distribution of resources. Even Herculean efforts to provide food, shelter, and security for migrants can fail unless there is a timely count and assessment of human needs and the directionality of the massive flow of people.
It has not been sensible to overburden Hungary with expectations and demands for accommodative actions which, as we can see now, can even shake up major players. In today’s times, leaders are all-too-often confronted with asymptotic conditions, where they encounter demands for actions by outsiders who are neither shouldering the political burden nor are paying for all their wonderful suggestions. Later on, those who earlier decried and dismissed responsible government, turned out to even imitate. Particularly in groups of nations which are often shaken by disagreement to demanding policies, one winds up with the unfortunate constant of politics: no gratitude, no memory, no long term, no acknowledgement of leadership: just like an unhappy couple.