Modernity and the Magyars

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PROBLEM STATEMENT
Contemporary Hungarian nationalism is a
reactionary process at the state scale against
the US prime modernity, which dominates at the
international level. Hungarian nationalism can
be analyzed within the framework of the hegemonic
cycle. Power conflict between the world
hegemony and powerful competing state (e.g., the
USSR during US hegemony) takes place across space
and territorial states. More than through brute
force, power conflict between the hegemony and
competing powers is conducted by selling a way of
life, a modernity. After 1989, the Soviet
competing modernity collapsed allowing the
Westernization of Hungary. The contemporary rise
of Magyar nationalism is an instrumentalist tool
with which to confront this sudden, rapid influx
of a foreign modernity. However, nationalism
cannot beat an external identity as it is a
territorially fixed modernity. Competition
between the Hungarian nationalist modernity and
the US prime modernity will result in conflict,
but the prime modernity will prevail.
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WHY HUNGARY?
Due to its turbulent geographic location within
the history of competing hegemonies and
competitive powers, Hungary offers a unique
window of analysis in which to analyze the
process of territorially fixated nationalism in
relation to modernity power struggles operating
at the global scale, as well as to view the
societal effect the interaction of these
processes has on a specific territorial place.
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CONCEPTS
PRIME MODERNITY Exportation of the hegemonys
way of life. As the dominant state in the
geopolitical order, the hegemony epitomizes the
modern way of life. The hegemony becomes
emulated by other societies aspiring to be
modern. Currently, the prime modernity of the US
hegemony consists of the following lifestyle
traits suburban lifestyle, patriarchy, mass
consumerism, transportation by car, et cetera.
PRIME MODERNITY Exportation of the hegemonys
way of life. As the dominant state in the
geopolitical order, the hegemony epitomizes the
modern way of life. The hegemony becomes
emulated by other societies aspiring to be
modern. Currently, the prime modernity of the US
hegemony consists of the following lifestyle
traits suburban lifestyle, patriarchy, mass
consumerism, transportation by car, et cetera.
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HEGEMONY The world hegemony is the
state garnering supremacy in world economics
i.e., global production, trade, and finance.
Economic dominance soon translates into political
and cultural dominance, and the envy of other
societies. The rise and fall of the hegemony
goes through a process called the hegemonic
cycle, lasting approximately 100 years. During
this time, a global power will confront the
hegemony. Today the US is the hegemony and
nearing the end of its cycle, as it has defeated
the
competition of the Soviet state and communist
modernity.
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HEGEMONY The world hegemony is the state
garnering supremacy in world economics i.e.,
global production, trade, and finance. Economic
dominance soon translates into political and
cultural dominance, and the envy of other
societies. The rise and fall of the hegemony
goes through a process called the hegemonic
cycle, lasting approximately 100 years. During
this time, a global power will confront the
hegemony. Today the US is the hegemony and
nearing the end of its cycle, as it has defeated
the competition of the Soviet state and
communist modernity.
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NATIONALISM An instrumentalist tool used to unify
and fight against an other. Generally
conglomerates within a state, hence the term
nation-states. The rise of Hungarian
nationalism is really a backlash of those
Magyars peripheralized by an overwhelming,
extra-territorial modernity coming from
outside its borders.
COMPETING MODERNITY A powerful state will attempt
to confront the hegemonys position of power
through both economic, political, and
social means. Alternative modernities are
established by those states to compete with the
prime modernity. The USSR developed
global communism as an alternative to the
capitalist, mass consumer ideology espoused by
the US.
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NATIONALISM An instrumentalist tool used to unify
and fight against an other. Generally
conglomerates within a state, hence the term
nation-states. The rise of Hungarian nationalism
is really a backlash of those Magyars
peripheralized by an overwhelming,
extra-territorial modernity coming from outside
its borders.
COMPETING MODERNITY A powerful state will attempt
to confront the hegemonys position of power
through both economic, political, and social
means. Alternative modernities are established
by those states to compete with the prime
modernity. The USSR developed global communism
as an alternative to the capitalist, mass
consumer ideology espoused by the US.
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HUNGARY A small state in the world-economy and
geopolitical order, lying on the periphery of
Soviet dominance for much of the cycle, and
raphidly being consumed by the prime modernity
and Westernization toward the end of the United
States hegemonic cycle.
HUNGARY A small state in the world-economyand
geopolitical order, lying on the periphery of
Soviet dominance for much of the cycle, and
rapidlybeing consumed by the prime modernity and
Westernization toward the end of the US hegemonic
cycle.
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Modernity and the Magyars
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Modernity Competition Across Hungary
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Modernity Competition Across Hungary