Chapter 10 Mono-ethnic Transnationalism? Romanian Public Perceptions of Hungarian Ethno-political Claims and Kin-state Policies
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Abstract
In 2010, Hungary modified its citizenship legislation, making it possible for Hungarians living in neighbouring countries to obtain extra-territorial citizenship. In this paper, I seek to explain the lack of Romanian resistance and countermeasures to the Hungarian legislation, suggesting that Romania has moved towards a post-Westphalian concept of sovereignty and away from a territorially-bounded notion of what constitutes a national community. I investigate the Romanian public perception of existing minority rights and Hungarian ethnic claims, as well as the relationship between the Hungarian citizenship legislation and the claims of the Transylvanian Hungarian political elite for minority rights and autonomy. Relying on empirical studies and surveys on how the ethno-national majority in Romania perceives the minority rights of Transylvanian Hungarians and the Hungarian kin-state policy, I assert that it is primarily an empirical question whether national majorities see minority autonomy and extra-territorial citizenship offered by the kin-state as conflicting strategies.