The Price of Illusion and the Power of Meaning: Helsinki, Hungary, and the Holy Crown
Journal: Polgári szemle
Year: 2020

Whereas the Hel­sinki Final Act’s im­pact in the So­viet bloc is usu­ally defined by the res­ist­ance and pres­sure in­spired by ‘bas­ket three’ human rights clauses, the part of the ac­cord that the So­viet Union de­sired was at least as sig­ni­fic­ant, es­pe­cially for Hun­gary. The So­vi­ets pre­sumed that formal West­ern ac­know­ledge­ment of the post-war set­tle­ment – a long-term for­eign policy – would en­sure its per­man­ence. But the ac­cept­ance of post-war bor­ders ac­tu­ally im­per­i