The New Constitution of Hungary: Historical Narratives and Constitutional Identity
18 Pages Posted: 8 Jun 2013
Date Written: March 8, 2012
Abstract
The new Hungarian Constitution manifestly strives for constituting a new constitutional identity, which does not reflect only aspirations to eliminate the traces of the communist constitution, in fact, it includes the suppression of republican tradition, in general. This has resulted in the voluntaristic exclusion of that particular historical identity tangibly present in contemporary Hungarian society, which stresses democratic autonomies. The most important expectation towards historical references in the constitution is that those should create coherent narratives that are able to relate to the principles of constitutionalism and, thereby, could contribute to the stability of constitutional identity. The historical constructions in the new constitution, nonetheless, rather increase the already existing discrepancies and dissonances between principles and actual legal practices, therefore, these constitute another source of uncertainty and instability.
Keywords: Hungary, Historical Narratives, Constitutional Identity, Constitutional Law
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