Big Brother's Descendants: Territorial Policy during the Post-Socialist Period in Hungary

This article examines territorial development policies in Hungary. It addresses the question: to what extent was territorial development policy in the 1990s a function of the reconceptualization of development in the post-socialist context, the inertia of the socialist ideologies and practices, the path-dependency of Eastern Europe and the external pressure of the European Union. It investigates the challenges for territorial development policy after the regime change, with a special emphasis on the requirements by the EU territorial policy. The Hungarian example shows the special problem in adjusting territorial development and public administration structures. It also shows the shift from a clear and explicit territorial agenda - urbanization under socialism - to a less structured one.