CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2025
| Author | Kis, Kinga Anna |
|---|---|
| Title | Illiberal Governments and Deepening Social Divides: The Orban Governments Crackdown on Civil Society and its Effects on Roma Integration in Education |
| Summary | This thesis discovers the effects of the Orban governments policies on civil society-led Roma integration programs in Hungary in terms of reach, legitimacy and public perception. The study is conducted in the context of the national Roma integration program that relies largely on the civil sphere and the erosion of state responsibility and authoritarian neoliberalism. It analyzes policies targeting the civil sphere from the last 15 years to understand their practical implications and possible reactions from civil society. It conducts the analysis in the framework of existing national and EU-level Roma integration efforts. The thesis collects and analyzes data on funding allocations for CSOs in general and specifically in this sphere. Furthermore, it uses a qualitative analysis through conducting interviews with key actors in civil society-led programs for Roma integration in education. The interviews examine the limitation of funding opportunities and the shift in public discourse and perception and the effects of this on engagement and legitimacy. The study finds that the Orban governments policies on the civil sphere destruct both its reach and legitimacy in Roma integration in education due to a change in public discourse which discourages participation and skews public perception and underfunding, leading to a deepening of social divides in education and on a wider societal level. Furthermore, it finds that the issue of minority integration in education is exponentially affected by the authoritarian neoliberal state attitude as government responsibility diminishes, state control is centralizing, and accountability measures are obstructed. |
| Supervisor | Anil Duman |
| Department | Undergraduate Studies BA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2025/kis_kinga.pdf |
Visit the CEU Library.
© 2007-2025, Central European University