Securing Own Position: Challenges Faced by Local Elites after the Austro-Hungarian Compromise

Abstract

The multi-ethnic regions of the Habsburg Monarchy became increasingly perceived as places of instability and insecurity after the rise of competing national movements in the mid-nineteenth century. The antagonism between local national elites culminated after the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, as all pursued a course aimed at securing a favourable position. As actors of security, the local elites often and typically declared themselves and their respective nations to be existentially threatened and therefore with a legitimate claim to survive the challenges brought on by modern times. To investigate the security dilemmas of the local elites in two different regions of Austria-Hungary – namely in three city municipalities in BácsBodrog county in Southern Hungary; and in Vas, Sopron and Moson counties in western Hungary – this study combines methods of historical discourse analysis * This paper was written as part of a DFG Collaborative Research Centre/ Transregio 138 subproject at the Herder Institute in Marburg, Germany, entitled ‘Discourses on the Rights of Minorities and Majorities in East Central Europe in the 19th and 20th Century’. The case study of western Hungary was written by Tamás Székely, whereas the case study of southern Hungary by Szilveszter Csernus-Lukács. The introduction and conclusion of the paper are a joint effort by the two authors. The case study no. 2 was supported by The Únkp-19-3-Szte New National Excellence Program of The Ministry For Innovation And Technology. For more, see https://www.herder-institut.de/projekte/laufende-projekte/ versicherheitlichung-und-diskurse-ueber-rechte-von-minderheiten-und-mehrheitenin-ostmitteleuropa-im-19-und-20-jahrhundert.html; more information on the collaborative research centre: https://www.sfb138.de. 86 Tamás Székely and Szilveszter Csernus-Lukács with approaches taken from security and nationalism studies as well as regional