Nation-Building and Contested Identities: Romanian & Hungarian ...

acquire Hungarian citizenship. By defining the subjects of the law, oneimplicitly defines who is Hungarian. The ongoing debate focuses on the conflictingconceptualizations of Hungarianness. It seems that an “objectivist”definition will prevail, and the aspirants will have to prove their Hungariannesswith documents. The law refers only to Hungarians living in the borderingcountries, therefore one may say that there is a process of institutionalizationof the Hungarian nation on an ethno-territorial basis.Starting from this ethnocultural redefinition of the nation, Hungaryalso plays an important role in the redefinition of the Hungarian nationalminorities. Hungarian national minorities in the neighboring countries areinvolved in nationalizing processes within the framework of their respectivestates. The “Status Law” strengthens the symbolic boundaries of Hungaryand the national minorities living in neighboring countries. The theoreticalquestion is whether there are several parallel processes of Hungarian nationbuilding,or only one. The situation existing prior to the “Status Law” suggeststhe former, while the post-”Status Law” situation the latter. The “StatusLaw” binds all the members of the Hungarian ethnocultural nation(living in the neighboring states) together. In this respect, it has a decisiveinfluence on the politics of the national minorities.Throughout the last decade, Hungary has been supporting most ofthe important cultural institutions. In the future, however, it will havealso a decisive role in the life-strategies of the Hungarian individualsliving in the neighboring countries. Hungarian political elites and intellectualswill be even more dependent on Hungary, and Budapest ismeant to become the focal point for every member of the Hungarianethnocultural community. However, this connection is mediated byHungarian organizations from neighboring countries, and by this mediation,that is using Hungarian financial resources, they can realize theirnation-building project. 36ConclusionNationalizing Minorities and Homeland PoliticsThis paper sought to provide a conceptual framework for analyzing nationalminorities, based on the case study of the Hungarian national minority inRomania. It suggests that one should use the concept of nationalizing minorityinstead of national minority, because it better captures the dynamics of thegiven community and offers a better explanation for nationalism in East-Central Europe. Nationalizing minority is a concept of the same category asnationalizing state, and does not suppose different motivations for the titularnation and the national minority. My intention was to propose anapproach that is valid despite the regime or border changes; the actors (thegroups) may change, but the logic is similar.269