Evolution of Hungarian security policy thinking in 1989–1999, with a special view on the Hungarian Defence Forces

Abstract

Hungarian security policy thinking has gone through basic and crucial changes in the past two decades. As a result, we can see a kind of “evolution”, which began from a former Soviet satellite status and continued through a role seeking period to active membership in the Euro–Atlantic community. One of the most significant security and defence policy changes can be seen with regard to the shaping and restructuring of the Hungarian Defence Forces. This paper seeks to explain this evolution in the period of 1989–1999 with the support of the János Bolyai Scholarship awarded by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.