Legacy and Policy Effects on Spatial Development in Hungary and Bulgaria

This dissertation investigates the relationship between socioeconomic and spatial development of Eastern Europe from a historical perspective. The author will examine how global and national processes affect localities, and in particular the impact on the spatial distribution of population and economic activities. Taking Hungary and Bulgaria as cases, the author addresses the issue of the different development paths of the two subregions in Eastern Europe with regards to spatial development policy, population redistribution and settlement morphology. The main questions in the dissertation are:

1. What were the most important similarities and differences between the social and economic development of Hungary and Bulgaria after WWI and what are the roots of the differences?
2. How were spatial development goals directed by inherited challenges, political ideologies and external requirements, and what was the nature of state policies used to achieve these goals?
3. How did population redistribution occur in these two countries as a result of development policies, and what was the effect of this redistribution on subsequent policies?

The methodology of the research contains the analysis of macro-level, aggregated statistics; policy analysis, using interviews with key informants and regional case studies in both countries. The author approaches from an interdisciplinary standpoint, connecting development sociology, social demography and political science.
The particular significance of the study will be connecting the political theory of Eastern European "backwardness" to the social demography of the region: population distribution and urbanization in particular. The comparison of Hungary and Bulgaria will not only address the theory behind the socioeconomic division of Eastern Europe, but will reveal some of the important aspects of the EU accession process as a developmental reference point for post-socialist countries. This research can contribute to policy-making also, revealing the intended and side effects of various population distribution and spatial development policies.