Defense Policies of East-Central European Countries After 1989: Creating Stability in a Time of Uncertainty by James Peterson & Jacek Lubecki

Author:James Peterson & Jacek Lubecki [Peterson, James & Lubecki, Jacek]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, Comparative Politics, World, European
ISBN: 9781526110428
Google: cB72nAAACAAJ
Goodreads: 38398264
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Published: 2019-01-14T00:00:00+00:00

Source: Based on Kufĉak 2014.

Though the 2012 “National Military Strategy”19 holds some indications of Hungary’s intentions to restore its high-intensity, conventional warfare capability, its assertions are ambiguous at best.20 It restates the notion that Hungary’s immediate neighborhood is “stable” and a risk of conventional attack against Hungary and its allies is “marginal,” but one can also find concerns about stability of (implicitly) the Western Balkans: “the security of those regions previously struck by crises remains fragile.” It sets forth the necessity for personnel who “have received high-level education and training, have adequate physical and psychological endurance, are capable of high-level performance in an international environment, and are motivated and committed to executing its tasks.” However, it provides little operational guidance on how to achieve these goals. Therefore, in this interim period, when it is hard to gauge what will happen next, Hungary’s goal for, “armed forces that can be employed in the full spectrum of possible operations from low to high intensity” is, in its ambiguity, the best prediction available for the future of HDF.

Concluding matters: Russia, refugees, and the future

The Ukrainian Crisis exploded in February 2014 with Putin’s takeover of Crimea. Orbán’s response to the issue has been unsurprisingly twofold – on the one hand, his government, alongside other V4 countries, condemned the violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty,21 and diplomatically supported and sustained EU sanctions against Russia (Kucharczy & Meseznikov 2016). On the other hand, in a display of political schizophrenia, Orbán publicly criticized the sanctions his government helped to draft (Kucharczy & Meseznikov 2016) and raised the issue of Hungarian minority rights in Transcarpathia; a display of inferred support for Russian claims of Ukraine’s minority rights violations. Though Orbán’s rhetoric painted the EU as an enemy and Russia as a friend, his political actions, in many ways, could not have been further from his words.

Table 5.5 Evolution of Hungarian defense policy doctrine

Year Documents Premises Goals

1993 Basic Principles of Security Policy of the Republic Hungary Hungarian strategic autonomy as a temporary reality Integration into NATO and EU

1993 Principles of National Defense of the Republic of Hungary Hungarian strategic autonomy as a temporary reality Integration into NATO and EU as full members

1998 Hungary’s Security and Defense Policy – Resolution on Basic Principles Hungary’s membership in NATO as a given Integration into NATO and EU

2002 National Security Strategy of the Republic of Hungary Euro-Atlantic and European integration.

Safety from conventional threats Liberal development of Hungary and in the broader world, especially immediate neighborhood

2004 National Security Strategy of the Republic of Hungary Euro-Atlantic and European integration.

Safety from conventional threats Liberal development of Hungary and in the broader world, especially immediate neighborhood

2009 National Military Strategy of the Republic of Hungary Euro-Atlantic and European integration.

Safety from conventional threats Development of alliance-compatible and integrated military capabilities

2012 National Security Strategy of the Republic of Hungary Hungarian membership in the Western Security community. Safety from conventional threats Liberal development of Hungary and in the broader world, especially immediate neighborhood

2012 Hungarian National Military Strategy Inadequacy of Hungarian Defense Forces. “Dealing

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