Vasile Sebastian Dâncu, Illiberalism and the Trianon Syndrome: The Orbán Regime and the Support of Ethnic Parallelism in Transylvania
Contemporary Hungary has been defined by a defensive national identity that has its origins in
the controversial national history seen as an unfinished and constant struggle for freedom against
oppressive foreign powers. Fidesz, the party that leads Hungary today, politically legitimizes itself
by using historical memory. According to the Fidesz nationalist-populist discourse, Hungary lost
its sovereignty in 1944 following the German occupation and regained it in 2010, when the second
Orbán government drafted the new Constitution (adopted in 2011) and restored historical continuity.
Budapest links the Treaty of Trianon to the principle of responsibility of the Hungarian government towards Hungarians in neighboring countries, especially those in Transylvania. This paper
discusses the results of an empirical study intended to determine whether the continuous pressure
exerted by Hungary on the Hungarian population in Transylvania, in regards to Trianon, has had
any effect upon the Hungarian public opinion in this area of Romania. The results clearly show
that the Statute Law and the propaganda of the Budapest governments have succeeded in creating, at least in the counties of Harghita and Covasna, communities that resonate with Budapest’s
projects.
