Attila M. Demeter

Ethnos and demos

The paper tries to answer the question why ethnic or national identity shows to be much more important than any while other political identity. Why ethnicity requires special political treatment, other political identities like gender or religious identity, sexual preferences, social group interests do not. The central thesis is that there are strong historical arguments which indicate that demo-cracy and nationalism go together. The rule of people is the rule of nation, partly because instauration of representative government means the same time nationalizing politics. Con-sequently, in a multinational democratic state ethnic identity becomes not only a matter of culture, but a matter of holding political power. All these arguments lead to the conclusion that the very popular idea of group rights must be completed by other forms of participation in democratic decision-making: special repre-sentation or national self-determination. But these forms of political representation are legitimate only if they serve – just like the representative government itself – the goal of individual liberty.

Róbert Nagy

The Industrial and Infrastructural Development of Clausenburg

The industrial and infrastructural development of Clausenburg at the end of the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th century are in close connection with the geographical position of the settlement as well as the goodwill of the central government. Due to the relative geographical isolation the town had long been deprived of the possibility to join the capitalist production relations which took shape during the 19th century. After the Austrian-Hungarian Compromise signed in 1867 the Hungarian governments apart from the building of the railway Nagyárad-Clausenburg-Kronstadt tried to enhance the development of the town by the Szamos river. While the railway finished in 1873 with the huge amount of products which were produced in the western regions of Europe caused a crisis of the local crafts, the establishing of administrative and educative institutions has meant to improve this situation. Apart from the state owned tobacco factory and the railway repair workshops private industry made progress too and despite the fact that the settlement did not change into an industrial center, industry offered working places for an important proportion of the local labour force. At the end of the above mentioned period of time Clausenburg possessed an advanced infrastructure and a considerably advanced industry.

Attila Papp Z.

The Hungarian Press System in Romania During the Nineties

The World of the Operators

The main goal of the article is a descriptive understanding of the role of the written press of the Hungarian minority in Romania – maintained, safeguarded and developed in the nineties – as a decisive sub-system of minority institutio-nalization. We build this „understanding” on our preliminary three-tiered studies: a) press-history analysis; b) surveys  prepared by means of written questionnaires among journalists; c) interviews conducted with the editors of the most important dailies and weeklies of the Hungarian media in Romania.

According to the author generational distinctions can be observed within journalist-society in internet-use, foreign-language abilities and attitudes toward minority interest organizations (RMDSZ). On the basis of the interviews and taking into account the more important events of their life-path and the characteristics of their present-day jobs, editors-in-chief were grouped into three types: heirs, managers, and local patriots.