The 20th century compelled the dispersal of the Hungarian nation to many states in the Carpathian Basin and Europe, and around the world. This was accompanied by the loss of historic territories. In 2020 it will be a century since three out of every ten Hungarians were placed under the control of a foreign state. Forecasts indicate that within a few decades Hungary’s population will shrink by half a million, and losses of ethnic Hungarians amounting to several hundred thousand people are expected due to assimilation and emigration from the Carpathian Basin.
The most precious resource of the thirteen million Hungarians currently living in the Carpathian Basin, which surpasses all our natural and economic resources, is our human wealth: the people who speak Hungarian as their mother tongue and are part of Hungarian culture. The new European system has presented a unique opportunity for national unification transcending borders. In the coming decades linguistic and cultural homogeneity as a fundamental factor of social and economic stability will grow immensely in value. Apart from its role in maintaining and strengthening national identity, national unification must ensure first and foremost that Hungarians can succeed in their homeland.
This historic compulsion and the opportunity afforded by the 21st century makes the foundation of an institute which cares equally about all Hungarians throughout the world an essential condition for the survival of the Hungarian people and planning their future. The Hungarian Government founded the Research Institute for National Strategy by Decree no. 346/2012 (XII. 11.). The Institute’s primary tasks aim to enable the over three million Hungarians who were scattered around the world and compelled to live in separation in various countries of the Carpathian Basin by the turbulent events of the 20th century to remain and prosper in their homeland while retaining their own identity.
By extending citizenship and passing the law on the Testimony for National Cohesion, the Government took the first step in terms of public law. The second step is to create professional and political awareness, and to lay the foundations of a new doctrine of national policy. The experience of the past twenty years has shown that political representations are unable to prevent the decline in numbers of Hungarian communities living beyond Hungary’s borders, the conscious destruction of cultural and educational opportunities, the constant erosion of community rights and the frequent physical hindrance of our fellow Hungarians.
In order to create the economic space required for the implementation of the new national strategy, coherent systems must be conceived which enable the sustainable, planned and coordinated administration of Hungarian affairs in the Carpathian Basin using European Union funds as well as our own natural and human resources.
The Research Institute for National Strategy is striving through its own means to help redefine Hungarian heritage in a modern sense and consciously build the Hungarian future and to table this to the decision-makers. It is only possible to implement a successful national strategy in a unified Hungarian system through the inclusive involvement of the large block of Hungarians and the scattered Hungarians of the Carpathian Basin, as well as diaspora Hungarians.
