Témakiírások
The Structure of Power Struggle in the Rákosi Era in a Network Perspective
témakiírás címe
The Structure of Power Struggle in the Rákosi Era in a Network Perspective
intézmény
doktori iskola
témakiíró
tudományág
témakiírás leírása
History teaches us that the struggle for power at the top of the society can be very cruel. Cruelty and killing of rivals is often the rule rather than the exception in intense political power struggle where the winner takes everything: typically, a rule of a life-time. Strikingly, such examples are not peculiarities of the distant past.
We opt for a case study of dictatorship rather than a democracy because of the intensity of competition and because of a simpler analytical strategy: voters play a negligible role. We study the quest for power from 1949 till 1956 in Hungary from a network perspective. We describe the dynamics of political relations and power in this period and illustrate whether our theoretical claims about negative relations and competition are valid in this social setting. For this purpose, we collect data about negativity and competition among politicians in Hungary from the time of communist dictatorship.
Our analytical strategy will include a decision about the target population; a selection of sources of relational information; definition of power positions; and operationalization and recording of relational aggression between politicians. For each step of the analytical strategy, independent assistance will be used for coding and processing data. Information obtained in each step will be checked in expert interviews. For the target population, we restrict our interest with a position generator method that is typical in the sociological research on the elite. Curricular data will be gathered about politicians who hold a position with significant power any time between 1949 and 1956 in Hungary. This list will be supplemented with politicians who did not hold office, but were identified as key political actors in expert interviews with historians.
We analyze CVs and determine co-occurrences before 1956. Most typical early co-occurrences are communist activity in 1919 in Hungary, participation in the Soviet Red Army, imprisonment in Hungary (if in the same prison), strike activity in Hungary (especially in the construction industry), membership in the illegal communist party, emigration time in the Soviet Union (or elsewhere), representation at the Comintern, participation in the Spanish Civil War, partisan activity in World War II in Yugoslavia, in Hungary, or in the Soviet Union, membership in the Hungarian Front. More detailed CV information will be gathered for the period between 1945 and 1956. Some of these co-occurrences are co-incidental, but we will use them as relational indicators. That is, they partly measure potential friendship and alliance, and partly the effect of common background. In addition, to fill in missing gaps and to gain more insight, we code all positive and negative relational information from memoires and books written by historians. In addition, we record directed criticism in documented speeches, self-criticism that is triggered by another politician (“I was wrong… as it has been justly highlighted by Comrade X”), and direct involvement in arrests and political trials.
Recommended readings:
Fejtő F. 1991. A népi demokráciák története. (Histoire des démocraties populaires.) Ford. Endreffy Z. 1991. Budapest, Párizs, Magvető - Magyar Füzetek, 1. köt.
Izsák L. 1995. A Rákosi-rendszer. 1948 ősze-1956 nyara. Történelmi Szemle, 1:51-67.
Korom M. 1998. A hatalomgyakorlás "stabilitása." Államvédelmi Bizottság Magyarországon, 1948-1953. Új Horizont, 5-6:62-77.
Pünkösti Á. 1996. Rákosi a csúcson, 1948–1953. Budapest, Európa.
For this project, the applicant should be fluent in Hungarian. The candidate will need to collect data and perform the analysis. The ideal candidate has experience in gathering archival information and has also a background in quantitative research methods and is recently gradua¬ted in history or in one of the social sciences.
We opt for a case study of dictatorship rather than a democracy because of the intensity of competition and because of a simpler analytical strategy: voters play a negligible role. We study the quest for power from 1949 till 1956 in Hungary from a network perspective. We describe the dynamics of political relations and power in this period and illustrate whether our theoretical claims about negative relations and competition are valid in this social setting. For this purpose, we collect data about negativity and competition among politicians in Hungary from the time of communist dictatorship.
Our analytical strategy will include a decision about the target population; a selection of sources of relational information; definition of power positions; and operationalization and recording of relational aggression between politicians. For each step of the analytical strategy, independent assistance will be used for coding and processing data. Information obtained in each step will be checked in expert interviews. For the target population, we restrict our interest with a position generator method that is typical in the sociological research on the elite. Curricular data will be gathered about politicians who hold a position with significant power any time between 1949 and 1956 in Hungary. This list will be supplemented with politicians who did not hold office, but were identified as key political actors in expert interviews with historians.
We analyze CVs and determine co-occurrences before 1956. Most typical early co-occurrences are communist activity in 1919 in Hungary, participation in the Soviet Red Army, imprisonment in Hungary (if in the same prison), strike activity in Hungary (especially in the construction industry), membership in the illegal communist party, emigration time in the Soviet Union (or elsewhere), representation at the Comintern, participation in the Spanish Civil War, partisan activity in World War II in Yugoslavia, in Hungary, or in the Soviet Union, membership in the Hungarian Front. More detailed CV information will be gathered for the period between 1945 and 1956. Some of these co-occurrences are co-incidental, but we will use them as relational indicators. That is, they partly measure potential friendship and alliance, and partly the effect of common background. In addition, to fill in missing gaps and to gain more insight, we code all positive and negative relational information from memoires and books written by historians. In addition, we record directed criticism in documented speeches, self-criticism that is triggered by another politician (“I was wrong… as it has been justly highlighted by Comrade X”), and direct involvement in arrests and political trials.
Recommended readings:
Fejtő F. 1991. A népi demokráciák története. (Histoire des démocraties populaires.) Ford. Endreffy Z. 1991. Budapest, Párizs, Magvető - Magyar Füzetek, 1. köt.
Izsák L. 1995. A Rákosi-rendszer. 1948 ősze-1956 nyara. Történelmi Szemle, 1:51-67.
Korom M. 1998. A hatalomgyakorlás "stabilitása." Államvédelmi Bizottság Magyarországon, 1948-1953. Új Horizont, 5-6:62-77.
Pünkösti Á. 1996. Rákosi a csúcson, 1948–1953. Budapest, Európa.
For this project, the applicant should be fluent in Hungarian. The candidate will need to collect data and perform the analysis. The ideal candidate has experience in gathering archival information and has also a background in quantitative research methods and is recently gradua¬ted in history or in one of the social sciences.
felvehető hallgatók száma
2 fő
helyszín
Budapesti Corvinus Egyetem
jelentkezési határidő
2013-05-30