Achievements and conflicts of modernisation in Hungary

Abstract

Socio-economic modernisation of ex-Soviet-Block countries means both an adaptation to the Western democracies and an effort to decrease econornic differences. lt requires socio-econornic restructuring, growth and the maintenance of a delicate balance - all simultaneously. The 1989-1996 period of transition in Hungary is characterised by potentially connicting objectives, changing priorities, and necessarily concurrent processes becoming sequential. Democratisation has made power-sharing between the central and local governments an issue. Creating a market economy is expensive. The process touches on questions of national sovereignty, causing conflicts between foreign and domestic interests, end leads to social, economic and regional differentiation and polarisation.