Discussion Papers 2000. No. 33.
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
CENTRE FOR REGIONAL STUDIES
OF HUNGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
DISCUSSION PAPERS
No. 33
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity
in the South Hungarian Great Plain
by
István MURÁNYI–Judit PÉTER
–Tibor SZARVÁK–Zsolt SZOBOSZLAI
Series editor
Zoltán GÁL
Pécs
2000
Discussion Papers 2000. No. 33.
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Publishing of this paper is supported by the
Research Fund of the Centre for Regional Studies, Hungary
ISSN 0238–2008
2000 by Centre for Regional Studies of the Hungarian Acady of Sciences
Technical editor: Ilona Csapó, Zoltán Gál
Typeset by Centre for Regional Studies of HAS Printed in Hungary by Sümegi
Nyomdaipari, Kereskedelmi és Szolgáltató Ltd., Pécs
Discussion Papers 2000. No. 33.
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Contents
Perface / 5
I
Features of Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain Region / 6
1 Introduction / 6
2 Interpreting the notion of region and micro region /10
3 Elements of local and regional ties / 13
4 Features of local patriotism /19
5 Values of the domicile surroundings / 21
6 Expectations – region and the European Union / 24
II The condition of civil society in the South Hungarian Great Plain / 29
1 The changes of thinking about the civil society / 29
1.1 Civil society in Eastern Europe / 31
1.2 The non-profit sector in Hungary / 32
1.3 Civil organisations as reflected in the Hungarian legal system / 32
1.4 Some characteristic “civil problems” in Hungary / 34
2 The background of the investigation / 35
3 The main characteristics of the organisations / 37
3.1 Territorial distribution / 37
3.2 The year of foundation, founders / 37
3.3 Type of the organisations, the number of participants / 38
3.4 Territorial character and scope / 42
4 The functioning of the organisation / 43
4.1 Functions / 43
4.2 Goals / 44
4.3 Fundraising by grant application / 46
4.4 The role of public life / 48
5 The resources of the organisations /50
5.1 Management /50
5.2 Sources of income, sponsors / 53
5.3 Relations / 55
6 The opinions of the organisations / 57
6.1 The judgement of the role of civil sphere / 57
6.2 The knowledge of territorial development / 58
6.3 The judgement of the regional formation and development / 59
6.4 Future / 60
III Summary
/ 62
Bibliography / 68
Appendix I / 71
Appendix II / 77
Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
Preface
The practice of the South Great Hungarian Plain’s regional planning differs from
other regions in two aspects1. First, while in the majority of Hungarian regions
concepts and programs are dominated by economic employment policy and infra-
structural development, on the other hand, in the South Plain besides economic
development, employment policy, and infrastructural development, the region’s
human resource development also claims to be equal – as it is layed down in
documents under preparation concerning development plans of this region. Second,
– as far as we know – there are no other operative programs that can be found in
other regions of Hungary concerning the development of civil society. Our institu-
tion, the Great Plains Research Institute of HAS, Social Research Group at Szolnok
received a grant for preparing this program.
While preparing the program – in identifying research objectives both for a re-
port on regional development, and also to satisfy scientific ‘curiousity’ – we have
examined the adult population’s local and regional identity in the region, mainly
investigating sociological dimensions (interpreting the notion of the different areas
e.g. region, micro region, dwelling, attachment to different areas, features of local
patriotism, the scale of values in the surroundings, expectations of the EU) and also
features of civil organisations in the region (basic features, function, resources, and
support for regional development) We wanted to know people’s views on forma-
tion of the region.
Having finished the research and making the first evaluation of the results, we
think that we obtained much useful information relevant to preparing an urban
development program. That is why it is important to continue such research and
expanding it (towards, at least, the North Plains Region). This continuous research
process gives us authentic information on regional ties, development in shaping the
region, changes in the civil sphere’s composition, organisation, and opinion, and
shows us how important a role citizens and civil organisations may play in shaping
the region. Expansion of such research may reinforce or question the statement,
made by researchers (Csatári, 1999), that supposes uniform (social, historic, tradi-
tional etc.) environmental attachments in the Plains.
Our aim, in this executive summary, is to introduce the features of the South
Great Plain’s identity and the position of civil society by a harmonizing (regarding
the method and the contents) closing study.
1 By 1999, among Hungarian main regions the South Hungarian Great Plain’s longterm urban de-
velopment has been made and later on – by adopting the EU’s methodical and practical requirements
– regard to this longterm programme a middle term progress (7 years) and at the moment 12 operative
programmes under development in this region.
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
‘Not just space but time and history makes a region’
Paul Bois, 1971 –
I Features of Identity in the South Hungarian
Great Plain Region
1 Introduction
Recently published monographs and volumes of essays and studies on identity
problems substantiate their importance (Csepeli, 1992; Erős, 1996). This progress
can be attributed to the fact the after the collapse of communism, people’s attitude
changed immensely concerning identity: social roles can be chosen publicly, iden-
tity can be based on individual decisions (Dessewffy, 1996).
We can not disregard the direct social historical precedents, because before the
90’s it was not allowed to utilize identity models differing from the political pow-
ers’ expectations (national, ethnic, political, religions, socio-cultural etc), and iden-
tity problems could not appear in public discourses. Regarding traditional commu-
nities aspects, there were some elements that were accompanied by important con-
sequences: state socialism and its social practice (coming to power after 1947)
could not treat traumas of the two world wars, and this was loaded by disintegra-
tion of traditional communities that existed before the period of state socialism, and
uncertain Hungarian identity because of deformed internationalism (Hankiss,
1983). These factors led to the consequence that, at the beginning of the 1990’s, the
majority of the Hungarians did not have identity patterns, however, this would have
been essential for the fundamentally and constantly changing social environment’s
requirements. Mainly sociological and socio-psychological studies – in the 90’s
and before that – undertook to introduce and survey the main features of national
identity (Csepeli, 1982, 1992; Lázár, 1996; Szabó–Örkény, 1998).
Narrowing down identity to the dimension of national group-affiliation was also
related to the assumption that within the one-party system loyalty to the nation was
possible without overt political commitments. This contrasted with religious or
deviant locally based groups that were suspect politically. There are just a few ex-
amples in Hungarian bibliographies where historical-geographical ties are taken
into account when observing sociological or social-geographical aspects of identity
(Bőhm–Pál, 1987; Köteles–Varga, 1988; Enyedi, 1991; Csatári, 1999). There are
also few examples in internationally-published bibliographies in which sociologists
observe the problems of regional identity. Lately published books, studies only
dealt with nationalism, the national identity’s regional analyses, the weakening
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
national state status, strengthening regional – Quebec, Catalonia, Scotland – auton-
omy that leads to the establishment of plural identity (Hargreaves, 1998), on prob-
lems of ethnic identity – as Zulu ethnic identity came into being in the African
Kwa Zulu-Natal province (Muthien–Khosa, 1998) or with general problems such
as – are there any communities in contemporary modern society (Robbins, 1999).
In concrete empiric investigations researchers did not attribute importance to
explore the elements of regional identity, but to problems such as the question of
European integration and the way how different regions treat the problem (Diez-
Medrano, 1999). Among these few studies emerges the work of Weakliem–Biggert,
which analyses regional differences of political issues in the USA in the years of
1992 and 1996 (General Social Surveys). They separate two ways of investigating
the problem: the first approach stresses social and economic relationships within a
region, while the other one emphasises ethnic, religious identity, too (Weakliem–
Biggert, 1999). Studies seem extraordinary, which deal with regional identity
problems in countries where ethnic and religious aspects are lively such as India.
There are detailed descriptions concerning the country’s coloured and multilevel
regional and religious identity. Some writings also explain why it is pointless to
argue that market economy homogenises cultural differences and why there is no
sense in evaluating different language groups’ political debate (Swarup, 1997).
However, writings on regional identity are missing from the scientific literature.
These forthcoming paragraphs intend to define the notion of local identity.
The starting point of the relevant definition of local identity can be the notion of
personal and social identity. The psychical relationship between a person, being in
the progress of socialization and the society can be described by the person’s inter-
course with himself (personal identity) and by the formation of social identity.
Personal identity means experiencing the continuity of existence and being identi-
cal with external factors (idea, gender, generation, ethnic group or nation). Social
identity is ‘a part of the hypothetic construction’s distinguished aspect named ‘self’
because it is the selective interiorization of the society’s categorical intercourse, the
basis and social frame of self-identification and the notion of personal continuity
(Pataki, 1982). The progress of accepting self-identification categories, the shaping
of social identity, means identity with the constantly expanding environment (small
groups and community). This identification process can be described with the du-
alism of the discontinuance or formation of group identity, and with the social ef-
fect on the improvement of the psyche.
Because we define the notion of local identity through group identity (just as the
notion of national identity) the basis of this notion is a relevant national identity.
(Csepeli, 1982). It is important to deal with the politological approach of András A.
Gergely, which deals with the inherent nature of historic and regional minority
identity (based upon many Hungarian and foreign bibliographies) ‘… I deal with
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
identity as a sort of reference system, which means a personal sphere for me (con-
nected with social aspects, group symptoms and social territory), and serves as the
model of conflict between ‘me’ and ‘them’ and ‘we’ and ‘others’ (A. Gergely,
1996).
Local identity is defined as part of social identity, which means for the person a
wider network than of the personal one, therefore the person describes oneself as
part of a group described with geographic categories. It is an important aspect to
detemine categories (domicile, micro region, county, and region) but this kind of
geographical category making is not absolute. The basis of defining local identity
becomes apparent by taking into account all cognitive and subjective elements of
attachment to a certain group. And it also means belonging to a sort of tradition and
scale of values. Local identity just as national identity is the combination of a sub-
jective and cognitive element that is visible through communication. Local identity
is a sort of socialization, result of diacron and sincron communication that is gener-
ated and shaped by social-historical elements. When defining national identity with
phenomenological approaches György Csepeli separated spontaneous or natural
and ideological or conscious social identity. Sociologically defined groups’ local
identity can be defined with the help of this sort of division. In a society and in a
definite territory, citizen’s sensory perceptions, the everyday life, the importance of
the first periods of their lives are decisive in defining self identity. ‘Ideological’
identity is mainly based upon this one but polished with cognitivity and manifested
in national attitudes. Ideological identity assumes intellectual consciousness, which
is the privilege of groups having higher education and wider opinion-making
status.
In the Great Plains Research Institute of the Center for Regional Studies, HAS
we have done research since the beginning of the 1980’s on the field of geographi-
cal identity, which examines smaller regions (villages, suburbs, microregions)
(Csatári, 1986, 1989; Nánásiné, 1996; Murányi–Szoboszlai, 1997, 1998, 1999).
These scientific investigations proved that identity as a general social science and
spatial notion is often used without being aware of the notion’s local, territorial,
regional ties, and of its substantive meaning. This sort of lag in the past decade(s)
is really unfortunate because identity studies in Western countries have been re-
garded as one of the most ‘trendy’ interdisciplinary subjects for many years
(Krappman, 1980), so it is high time Hungarian researchers dealt with the problem,
too.
The foregoing studies (Csatári, 1999; Nánásiné, 1996; Murányi–Szoboszlai,
1998) claimed that we should relate human ties to specific territorites. The strong-
est is the attachment to people’s closest environment (residential surrounding ar-
eas), to locality, and this judgement has a positive and/or negative effect on judge-
ments of wider geographical territories.
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
We can distinguish three separate types of geographic territories related to re-
gional identity: geographic territory descriptive of the micro-region the county as a
historically determined area with its own administrative authorities, but including
continuous historical changes of territory the region as a vital geographic, social
and economic unit related to EU accession.
Regarding the aforementioned studies, elements of national and European
identity usually are not based on organically traditional local identity and
geographical identity (micro region, county, region) but they operate with cognitive
and political symbol-systems such as attachment to old and new national symbols,
divergent judgements on Hungarian national identity, strengthening of the Trianon
ideology and also the question of accession to European organisations (NATO,
EU).
It can be substantiated by empiric scientific investigations that the society’s
geographically different identity and some typical manifestation of the territorial
elements can play a major role in the future development of administrative
authorities and regional development. Scientific investigations are /may be
important because citizens’ ties to a geographic territory (settlement, residential
environment, micro region, county, region) and the existing harmony within these
regions – sometimes unconsciously – determines the quality of life, the local
society’s questions and answers, also mobility, the strengthening of local, regional
identity. Objective regional principles, which are also determined by subjective
factors, seek to clarify the problem of local, area social reactions, which, in
contemporary society, accompany a dynamic and, many times, diffuse regional-
social process. Citizens’ actions and reactions in a specific territory, attitude to
different policies are determined by their mental map, and whether they are aware
of the existing spatial problems and the way they respond to them. Local-regional
political bodies, administration and leadership can also handle citizens’s local-
regional conflicts and develop spatial classifications and registered areas owned by
citizens.
Land use in a cultural and regulated (by public interests) way is a vital element
in future Hungarian regional development organisation. This can be fruitful only if
professionally and scientifically based development conceptions:
• take into account citizens’s mental maps in connection with social, area
zoning elements
• find a natural way for regulating citizens’ area zoning, mobility and
everyday activities
• provide suitable institutions and benefits
with the help of direct-indirect methods (education, training, pupularization of
sciences etc) make people realize the importance and criteria of the modern and
democratic society’s area zoning. This sort of criterium-system is vital for a more
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
suitable and cultural land use, right after the changing of proprietership, which is
influenced and controlled by a civilized, democratic public life, initiative coming
from below and by the rules of spatially determined social development.
All these procedures can lead to a succesful and harmonising regional-local
development. Our hypothesis is that analyzing people’s spatial ties, regional-local
identity elements can vitally help the whole regional development process, while
absence of such ties – which means the society’s illiteracy in local aspects, too –
can harm local-regional develpment, the level and support of social identity.
Without a detailed investigation, we can say that identity problems are vital in
terms of accession to the EU from the aspect of regional policy (cohesion, regional
solidarity, respect for regional differences etc) which are important elements of the
harmony of social and economic spatial development.
This following essay on regional identity and civil organisations intends to
serve as a guideline for the South Great Plain Region’s operative program named
‘The Reconstruction of the Network of Regional Identity, Support for Civil Or-
ganisations, Strengthening Local, Micro-regional and Regional Ties’, and also
enrich local and regional identity research data and its methods, and empiric re-
sults. This scientific inquiry on identity matters was done in a concrete geographi-
cal area (the South Great Plain) in October–November 1999, and was based on
methods of sociology, however, including socio-psychological approaches.
Without having an empiric experience regarding the problem, questionnaires
were used in three counties of the South Great Plain Region (Bács-Kiskun, Békés
és Csongrád), which can be helpful in the subsequent investigation of local and
regional identity. The aim of these investigations was to show people’s local, re-
gional ties in special areas (locality, micro region, county, region). We emphasised
interpretations, but some actual problems such as the question of rergional
development (organising regions, EU membership), and characterising the scale of
values also emerged. In this ‘survey-type’ investigation we used social-demografic
index numbers and added tables in the apppendix.
2 Interpreting the notion of region and micro region
Two thirds (61%) of the surveyed people already heard about the South Great Plain
Region and most of them (68%) knew which 3 counties belong to this Region.
Fewer people heard about micro regions (41%) and only some could mention one
or more micro regions (48%). Further investigations show that within these 3
counties there are differences regarding their knowledge: people living in Bács-
Kiskun have less knowledge than others (Appendix 1, Table I–III). Criteria used
included describing the notion of region (scores over 60) but two criteria are
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
thought highly important (geographical cohesion of defined areas and good acces-
sibility through transport facilities). This means that the notion of region, for the
citizens, is the question of geography rather than of social-historical aspects.
Table 1
How does the following describe the notion of the region?
(100 point scale, 0: absolutely not, 100: absolutely)
Region
Bács-
Békés Csongrád
Kiskun
Cohesion of micro regions*
79
81
76
80
Accessibility of regions, micro regions (Good
70 72 70 69
transport facilities)
Common, collective interests of people living in the
67 69 62 70
same areas**
Economic relationship among the companies of the
65 66 63 66
area
Similar informational-communicational habits and
64 63 65 76
channels of people living in the same area
Common, collective traditions**
62
60
56
63
Social similarity of the citizens living in the same
60 60 56 63
area*
*, ** Explanation in: Appendix I.
Interpreting the notion of micro region – using the same criterium-system –
geographic aspects are also important, however, opposed to the interpretation of
the notion of region, people living in and thinking about a defined micro-region
find traditions and common interests as vital as geographic ones, because a micro-
region has features of a human community (tradition, interests). Significant differ-
ences in the interpretation of these two notions in the counties support the idea that
the biggest differences are due to social elements (social similarity, tradition, inter-
est). If we look at the 100 point scale and the given numbers we find that people
living in Csongrád county regard community-social criteria the most important
while people living in Békés county find it the least important.
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
Table 2
How does the following describe the notion of micro region?
(100 point scale, 0: absolutely not, 100: absolutely)
Region
Bács-
Békés Csongrád
Kiskun
Geographical cohesion of micro regions
76
75
77
75
Common ollective interests of people living in the same
75 80 70 77
area**
Collective traditions of people living in the same area**
73
76
67
75
Accessibility of micro-regions through good transport
71 73 72 68
facilities
Similar informational-communicational habits and
69 69 71 67
channels of people living in the same area
Social similarity of the citizens living in the same areas**
67
66
64
71
Economic relationship among the companies of the area
66
67
67
65
** Explanation in: Appendix I.
The main-component analyses used the same logic for interpreting the notion of
region and micro region. One type of the interpretation is a ‘social’ type where
traditions have the biggest value while economomic segments have the smallest.
Table 3
Types of region interpretation
„Social”
„Geographic”
(45.3)
(14.8)
Collective traditions
Geographic belonging
Social similarity
Good transport facilities
Common, collective interests
Similar informational-communicational habits
Economic relationship among the companies of the area
Table 4
Types of micro region interpretation
„Social”
„Geographic”
(42.4)
(16.7)
Collective traditions
Geographic belonging
Collective interests
Good transpost facilities
Social similarity
Similar informational-communicational habits
Economic relationship among the companies of the area
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
Investigating the 100 point scale, the interpretation of the ‘social’ element
shows bigger differences in the 3 counties: in Csongrád they find it more important
than people in Békés. Sub-sample investigations, within the counties, showed the
lesson of regression models: geographic interpretation is prefered to social inter-
petetion. The other lesson is that regarding the explaining variables in every case
people living in Bács-Kiskun county have the greatest effect on intepreting the
notion of region and micro region while in Csongrád have the smallest. Regarding
the significant independent variables the role of domicile is clear: interpretation of
the notion of region and micro region is unequivocally has a wider scope of geo-
graphical interpretation among people living in villages.
3 Elements of local and regional ties
We have investigated 15 probable objective and subjective relation types regarding
wider and narrower ties to domicile. The most significant elements of attachment
to the region were (average scores were over 50): besides aesthetics of environment
and local patriosim – friends and relatives, and the least favourable sparetime ac-
tivities – and last the absence of money conditions (financial coverage of moving
away, prices of field of plot and real estate (Table IV). Ties to counties and micro
regions show the same results but the given scores have higher unity (Table V–VI).
This means that citizens do not make differences between county and micro region.
However, relation to domicile means obviously different concepts to people (Table
VII). Scores increased and went above 50: on statements concerning everyday life
(marriage, workplace, transport and costs of living).
There are interesting trends visible in significant differences regarding the
counties. When interpreting the notion of region, county and micro region, scores
in Bács-Kiskun were the lowest while in Csongrád the highest. Ties to settlement
show the lowest scores in Békés county mostly on living and infrastructural condi-
tions (surroundings, intellectual ties, development of settlement, transport facilities,
chances of employment, costs of living, the future of children, sparetime activities,
and the price of real estates.)
The main component analyses lead to the same result (in the case of interpreting
the notion of region, county, micro region, and settlement). It means that the inves-
tigated three counties’ attitude to the different levels of their enviroment is very
similar. Regarding ‘infrastuctural’ type of statements the quality of residential en-
viroment is preferred mostly (transport facilities, state of development, aesthetics,
sparetime activities). Lower scores (using nearly the same statements) were given
to the other two main components: workplace and costs of living (‘worplace’), and
ties to relatives and family (‘family ties’). As regards the notion of region, county,
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
and micro region, the fourth main component is a sort of ‘anti-ties’ which empa-
sises the absence of money and denies local patriotism, ‘the love for dwelling’
(negative factor). The fourth component of the settlement level contains the same
elements, but with an opposite sign. Regarding the notion of dwelling we can see
that love for domicile and human relationship is really important while moving
away is considered a negative factor (‘not moving away type’).
Table 5
Types of attachment to region
„Infrastructural”
„Family ties”
„Workplace”
„Moving away”
(43.0)
(8.2)
(7.8)
(7.2)
The state of development Human relationships
Working opportunities, Money needed for
of settlement
workplace
moving away
Aesthetic surroundings
Marriage
Costs of living
Love for the domicil
(–)
Good transport facilities
Health Intellectual
ties
Aesthetic enviroment
(–)
Spare-time activities
The future of the
Love for the dwelling
children
Table 6
Ties to the county types
„Infrastructural”
„Workplace”
„Family ties”
„Moving away”
(38.9)
(8.9)
(8.2)
(7.5)
Development level of
Working opportunities, Family ties
Money needed for
the area
workplace
moving away
Aesthetic enviroment
Costs of living
Marriage
Aesthetic enviroment
(–)
Good transport facilities Intellectual ties
Future of the children
Love for domicile (–)
Spare-time facilities
Love for dwelling Human
relationship
Health
Health
Prices of plot and real
Spare-time facilities
estate
(–)
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
Table 7
Ties to micro region types
„Infrastructural”
„Family ties”
„Workplace”
„Moving away”
(36.7)
(8.7)
(8.3)
(7.9)
Aesthetic environment
Family ties
Working opportunities
Money needed for
moving away
Development level of the Marriage
Costs of living
Prices of plot and real
area
estate
Spare-time facilities
Health
Intellectual ties
Good transport facilities Human relationships
Love for dweling
Future of the children
Table 8
Ties to dwelling types
„Infrastructural”
„Family ties”
„Workplace”
„Not moving away”
(28.5)
(10.0)
(9.4)
(8.7)
Development level of
Marriage
Working opportunities
Love for domicile
the area
Good spare-time
Future of the children Costs of living
Money needed for
facilities
moving away (–)
Aesthetic environment
Family ties
Intellectual ties
Human relationship
Good transport facilities Health
Family ties
After making scientific investigation on the 16 main components we made a
subsidiary main component analyses. Types with nearly the same meaning can be
classified among the same main component. (E. g. ties of ‘infrastructural’ type, in
all four surroundings level, in this following analyses is classified among the same
main component.) Results unambiguously justify that ties to the different levels of
domicile environments with the same logic of organisation types are not independ-
ent of each other.
Subsidiary main component analysis in the case of the counties shows big dif-
ferences: in Csongrád county scores of ‘infrastructural’ and ‘workplace’ types are
higher than the average, while in Békés county this is the opposite. Citizens of
Békés county prefer emotional ties to material-economic conditions regarding their
wider residential surroundings (region): this county has the highest scores regard-
ing ties of family, relatives (family ties). They do not prefer moving away ‘moving
away type’ (negative scores). People in Csongrád county prefer costs of living and
infrastructure to any other criteria, while citizens of Bács-Kiskun county have the
highest scores regarding moving away.
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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
Regression models show that in Békés all ‘types of ties’ are highly affected by
independent variables, while in Bács-Kiskun – except the personal relationship
type – the explaining variables have the slightest effect. After investigating the
dependent subsidiary main components in the three counties, we can state that
variable proportions are high regarding ‘family ties’, and not surprising that – es-
pecially in the case of being married and ‘loyalty’ to domicile – in each of the three
counties ties of family and relatives are realy important. The intention of moving
away (‘moving away’ type) in the three counties are highly affected by marital
status and in Bács-Kiskun and Csongrád age is also relevant: the younger can move
away easier. The role that the domicile plays in people’s lives is contradictory.
Citizens of Csongrád, who live there from their birth, have the highest scores re-
garding moving away, while in Békés county the trend is the opposite. As regards
transport, the state of development, the so-called ‘infrastructural’ aspect, as angles
of ties, scores were highly influenced by socio-cultural elements but only in Békés
county. Ties to church were significant in each of the three counties. The surprising
statement which says that the bigger the ties to the church the higher the scores
concerning the importance of infrastructure can be explained with socio-cultural
features. While among religious people the number of inactive and uneducated
people is bigger, it seems logical that in the models of Bács-Kiskun and Békés
regarding ties of infrastructure type, the effect of people with active employment
status and people having higher education is negative. It means the thing that really
influence people’s views are not being religious but non-religious factors.
Employment in regard to people’s ties (‘workplace’ main component), is sig-
nificant for active people and has the highest scores in Békés county. Attachment
to dwelling is mainly defined by the questions of working in Békés county. This is
not only due to high scores (43.6%) but to the seven socio-cultural elements, too.
(The costs of living as a tie is important for the following people: who are active,
married, young, women, village people, living in the same place from their birth,
not religious.)
As we have seen ties to the region, county and micro region – in a constantly
increasing degree – show nearly the same structure, while regarding ties to domi-
cile, preference of concrete living conditions is apparent. In domiciles the role of
the dwelling receives a very high evaluation, because for the question ‘How are
you feeling yourself in general?’ the highest scores were given in the domicile (81
points), however the other three wider surroundings’ scores were also high (76–79
points). County subsamples show significant differences in the observed three
counties, in the multilevel evaluation of the notion of region, county, micro region
and domicile Csongrád county people gave the highest scores and Békés county
people gave the lowest scores.
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
Table 9
How do you feel yourself?
(100 point scale, 0: absolutely not, 100: absolutely)
Region
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
In
your
settlement*
81 82 78 84
In your micro region*
79
78
76
81
In your county*
78
78
74
80
In
your
region*
76 76 72 78
* Explanation in: Appendix I.
The answers for the question ‘How important is in your life the following?’
showed (of course after transforming the given scores) each element of the gradu-
ally widening surroundings important (74–85 points). The consequence of local
patriotism and ‘natural’ nationalism is that the concrete domicile and the impor-
tance of the country emerges from the other surroundings, for which nearly the
same scores were given to the aforementioned two. We can pick up some example:
e. g. for Bács-Kiskun citizens micro region and Europe is the least important, and
in Csongrád ‘the street’ (that particular street where they live) is more important
than in the other two counties.
Table 10
How important a role do the following play in your life? Evaluate in order of importance!
(100 point scale, 0: absolutely not, 100: absolutely)
Region
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Citizenship of the country where you live*
85
83
88
85
The town or the village were you live
83
81
82
85
The wider continent (Europe) where we live*
78
76
81
80
The street where you live*
78
76
77
80
The settlement where you work or study
74
73
73
77
The micro region where you live**
74
69
77
78
*, ** Explanation in: Appendix I.
The six variables can be related to two clear of regional types. Scores are higher
as regards the first main component (‘close domicile surroundings’) especially
where the importance of domicile and micro region was high, while in the other
type characterising the borders of the nation and Europe were taken into account
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
together. Békés county citizens find nationality and ties to Europe more important
than the average while in Bács-Kiskun the opposite tendency can be seen.
Table 11
Types of evaluating areas from the view of subjective importance
“Close surroundings”
“Wider surroundings”
(57.1)
(17.4)
The town or village where you live
The wide continent (Europe)
The street where you live
Citizenship of the country where you live
The settlement where you work or study
Micro region where you live
Observing regression models just in Békés and just in one case (‘close sur-
roundings’) socio-cultural features affected the evaluation. The effect of qualifica-
tion is significant in each county: the lower the qualification (vocational school) the
bigger the importance of ‘close surroundings’, as it is seen in Bács-Kiskusn and
Békés, and for these people the place of birth is vitally important, too. Despite the
fact that without giving concrete reasons, we can mention hypothetically that re-
garding the other independent variable (‘wider surroundings’) in Bács-Kiskun and
Békés religous people (especialy those who belong to the Reformed) do not con-
sider important the attachment to ‘wider surrounding’.
Among the answers for the ‘subjective’ questions on the future of people’s sur-
roundings the division is similar to the aforementioned ones. The South Great Plain
Region citizens are really interested in the future of their micro region, county and
region (76–78 points) but they are more interested in the future of their dwelling
and the county (81–86 points).
Table 12
How much are you interested in the following…
(100 point scale, 0: absolutely not, 100: absolutely)
Region
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
The future of the country
86
86
87
84
The future of your settlement
81
81
83
81
The future of your county*
78
78
81
77
The future of your micro region
77
76
78
77
The future of your region
76
74
78
75
* Explanation in: Appendix I.
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
4 Features of local patriotism
We have already referred to the concept of ties to domicile or to be more precise:
local patriotism. The ordinary and the scientific approach2 of the term contains
emotional attitude (love) so we indicated the well-known features of the term in the
questionnaire and added four other explanations.
Three of the assumed elements of local patriotism (cultural, economic, social)
showed bigger differences in the interpretation of the term, while regarding politi-
cal activity it is excluded from the specific features. For most of the people politi-
cally neutral local patriotism is culturally, economically and socially interpreted;
however the given ‘yes’ answers range only between 53–59% and do not show
absolute agreement. Mostly in Csongrád and least in Bács-Kiskun people think that
in these aforementioned four ‘social subsystems’ local patriotism has its effective
impact.
Table 13
How local patriotism presents itself?
(percentage of ‘yes’ answers)
Region
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Through cultural manifestation and activity*
59
54
63
61
Through economic manifestaion and activity*
54
48
55
60
Through social manifestation and activity*
53
50
50
60
Through political manifestation and activity**
39
32
39
48
*, ** Explanation in: Appendix I.
With the help of this ‘four component’ criterium-system cluster-analyses di-
vided the region’s people into two groups because these groups maintain basicaly
different views on the interpretation of local patriotism. In the bigger group (59 %
‘the weaker localpatriotist’) cultural interpretation was just 33%, while 83% of the
other group interpreted this term with political activity and behaviour (‘the stronger
localpatriotists’)
2 Word patriotism is of latin origin and its meaning is love of one’s country. The ordinary
approaches to local patriotism are: 1. Patriotism of local interest; the overestimation of narrow
locality (e.g. residence, etc), overdone love, 2. Placing local interests with small significance ahead of
more important national elements (Bakos, 1986).
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
Table 14
Types of local patriotism and its features (percentage of ‘yes’ answers)
“Weak” localpatriotists
“Strong” localpatriotists
59%
41%
Through cultural manifestation and activity
33
96
Through political manifestation and activity
9
83
Through economic manifestation and activity
25
93
Through social manifestation and activity
23
96
The narrow interpretation of localpatriotism in Bács-Kiskun is the higher (62%)
and the lower (54%) in Csongrád3. After scientific investigation of regression mod-
els we can say that socio-cultural features in none of the three counties – the least
in Csongrád – play a major role in belonging to a wider or narrower localpatriotist
group (scores range between 2–5.5). Region people find residential localpatriotism
more strong than weak (65 points) while the average is higher in Bács- Kiskun and
Csongrád compared to Békés (59 points; Table VIII).
Not surprising, even on condition of having optimal living conditions, 26% of
Békés county people (the highest percentage) would leave their domicile, however,
this element is not low in the whole region: having enough money every fifth per-
son would move away from their dwellings (21%).
Table 15
Having enogh money, would you move away from yoursettlement?*
(percentage of ‘yes’ answers)
Region Bács-Kiskun Békés Csongrád
21 19 26 19
Most of the people (34%) would move to a Transdanubian settlement or to the
cities of the South Great Plain (20%). The reasons for moving away are totally
different in the three regions: Bács-Kiskun citizens would mostly move to a
Transdanubian settlement (22%) or to one of the county seats (21%) or a town
(16%), while mobility of Bács-Kiskun people tends towards the Transdanubian
areas (49%). Csongrád county people would move to the capital (17%, this is the
3 The distribution of the county sub samples: County Bács-Kiskun: “narrow localpatriotism”
62%, “wider localpatriotism” 38%; County Békés: “narrow localpatriotism” 58%, “wider
localpatriotism” 42%; County Csongrád: “narrow localpatriotism” 54%, “wider localpatriotism” 46%.
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
highest percentage in the three counties) and they least would go to one of the
county seats of the South Great Plain Region (7%; Table IX).
Békés county people, who are the least loclapatriotists, mostly would move
away from their settlements, deal regularly with their close surroundings
(settlement) and wide surroundings (micro region, county, region), even more
conscientiously than in the other two counties. Average scores are low in Bács-
Kiskun, however as a whole, we can pin down that people do not think many times
of their region and county (scores are under 50%).
Table 16
How often do you think of living in a …
(100 point scale, 0: absolutely not, 100: absolutely)
Region
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
You live in a settlement**
45
38
53
46
You live in a county**
39
31
49
39
You live in a micro region**
32
25
41
34
You live in the South Great Plain Region**
31
22
40
33
** Explanation in: Appendix I.
5 Values of the domicile surroundings
The scale of values of the local society is a complex and really complicated
problem and this means that we can not state an overall view on the topic, but any
other subsequent researches may rely upon our findings and scores. We think that
the community acceptance of certain people, with its subjective judgements,
describes some aspects of the scale of values in the region and county.
When investigating the two types of residential surroundings, we worded
criteria which apply to partly ties to dwelling (descent, moving in) and effective
care (What do you do for your settlement?), partly to features of status
(qualification, leadership, political power, social status, religion). For obtaining a
clear view we emphasised criteria of regional affiliation.
According to the scores most of the people of the region (average points were
above 59) stated that they have respect for the following: ties to domicile, local
leadership, qualification, and optimal living standards. In contradiction to this
moving in, migrating in, religiousness, loyalty to a party are less vital (31–49%).
Deeper investigations showed that in Békés county administrative and party
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
leadership is the most important (in the evaluation of ‘respect’), while in Csongrád
people do not assign importance to this component.
Table 17
Regarding respect, is it important in your residental environment how a person behaves or
acts, according to the following:…
(100 point scale, 0: absolutely not, 100: absolutely)
Region
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Someone does many things for the
70 73 68 68
village/town*
Has
much
money
69 68 71 66
Belongs to the leaders of the village/town**
66
65
75
58
Educated
65 67 61 65
Someone’s family lives in the area for a long
59 61 56 59
time
Having a position in a party’s leadership**
49
49
56
41
Religious*
32 38 24 33
Moving away/back from a town or moving in
31 32 24 34
from a village**
*, ** Explanation in: Appendix I.
Regarding the ‘respect’ factor in the domicile, after making the main
component analyses and distinguishing three types, we can say that the first type
views leadership and party membership as connected to existential safety and
relates it to the idea of ‘elites’ so the scores are high. The other type (‘the
localpatriotist’) considers ties to domicile and religiousness important, and the third
type thinks qualification is the key of the problems of their residential environment
(‘the intellectuals’).
Table 18
Types of respect
“Elite”
“Localpatriotist”
“Intellectual”
(33.6)
(16.6)
(13.3)
One of the leaders of the
Moved back, moved in
Does many things for the
settlement
settlement where s/he lives
Having function in one of the
Religious Educated
parties
Having much money
Someone’s family lives in the
settlement for a long time
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
After investigating the county sub-samples scores, we can verify that regarding
respect in Békés people think ‘leadership’ (‘elite’) is the most important while ties
to domicile (‘localpatriotism’) is the less important. In the other two counties
localpatriotism is more important, which means that they respect localpatriotism
more than in Békés. (In Csongrád people do not find leader positions a question of
prestige.)
In Békés socio-cultural elements influence the ‘elite’ type of respect. In
accepting or refusing local patriotism this county’s scores are not really modified
by independent variables. Since in ‘the local patriotist’ type attachment to domicile
is connected with religiousness it seems logical that religious people in every
county prefer this type. The other feature is that independent variables did not
modify ‘the intellectual’ opinion type.
Regarding regional respect it does not matter in which county or region of the
country someone lives, or comes from Budapest or from one of the neighbouring
countries (scores range between 20–35) In this country (where Budapest plays a
predominant role) this is not surprising that scores are a bit higher if someone has
Budapest origin (compared to belonging to a county or region) but on the subject of
people having more respect coming from the neighbouring countries needs deeper
investigation. Probably the population’s hidden xenophoby comes into being when
they think the immigrant Hungarians’ situation more favourable (due to real or
supposed benefits). Differences in the counties are significant: in Bács-Kiskun
people do not in fact consider that in the question of ‘respect’ belonging to a bigger
region plays any part while in Békés scores are higher than in the other counties.
Table 19
Regarding the region, how important is respect if someone is from…
(100 point scale, 0: absolutely not, 100: absolutely)
Region
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
The
capital**
35 25 45 39
One of the neighbouring countries**
33
25
37
40
The
Transdanubian
region**
25 17 38 23
The Great Plain Region**
23
15
34
21
South Great Plain Region**
23
16
31
21
Csongrád
county**
22 14 30 23
Living in the Eastern part of the Great
22 14 30 19
Plain Region**
Bács-Kiskun
county**
21 17 28 18
Békés
county**
20 12 32 18
** Explanation in: Appendix I.
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
Preferences indicating regional belonging as a form of respect provide us with
two belonging types: one type is the ‘regional’ one (preferring origin of the Great
Plain or territories east of the River Tisza) and the other type is the ‘stranger’ one –
with lower scores – preferring Transdanubian, Budapest origin or of the
neighbouring countries. In Bács-Kiskun both of these types are less represented,
while in Békés people consider ‘regional’ respect type the most frequented.
Table 20
Types of regional respect
“Regional”
“Stranger”
(68, 0)
(12, 3)
Békés county people
Coming from one of the neighouring countries
Living in the Great Plain
Coming from the capital city
Living in the South Great Plain
Coming from the Transdanubian region
Bács-Kiskun county people
Csongrád county people
Coming from the East side of the River Tisza
Respect in the residential place through regression models of county subsam-
ples show that socio-cultural features do not, in reality, affect regional origin types.
However, independent variables affect more belonging to a wider geographical
territory (‘stranger’) in all the three counties. While in regional respect, religious-
ness did not really influence the scores, in the counties they had bigger influence
on the ‘stranger type’. It needs further investigation to verify that in the acceptance
of people those who do not belong to the close neighbourhood in Békés and Csong-
rád counties, due to some religious elements, can be a negative factor while in
Bács-Kiskun it is regarded more positively.
6 Expectations – region and the European Union
In the questionnaires people had to evaluate 15 tasks that are vitally important
functions of the regions. People thought each of the tasks valuable (scores are over
50) but priorities were made for creating workplaces and improving the health care
system (65–65 points). Significant differences show that in Békés young qualified
workers’ future perspectives and civil organisations are less supported than other
regional development goals.
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
Table 21
Evaluate the goals of the development of the region!
(100 point scale, 0: absolutely not, 100: absolutely)
Region Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Supporting young qualified workers in place-
65 64 59 71
ment in their workplace**
Supporting health developing initiatives
65
63
64
67
Forming regional labor force resource informa-
63 63 59 67
tional system*
Training experts on adult training
63
63
63
64
Supporting local, micro regional, regional media
60 60 60 60
accessibility (newspapers, tv, Internet
homepages)
Training the intellectuals and economic and
60 59 56 63
political management on tasks in connection
with the Euaccession*
Dissemination of the knowledge and formation
60 60 57 62
of the EU*
Supporting community development**
55
56
50
58
Supplying the remote areas with informatics*
54
55
53
54
Supporting distance learning systems*
53
57
48
54
For easing the problems of remote areas creating
53 58 49 53
special jobs for handling things related to such
areas.
“Multilingual region” program
53
54
55
51
Supporting
civil
organisations**
51 57 48 50
Program for Hungarian minorities abroad,
51 54 54 47
ethnic minorities in Hungary for preserving the
different ethnic groups’ language, cultural
identity, relationship with their home country
Encouraging open work in the region*
50
54
48
50
*, ** Explanation in: Appendix I.
Main component analyses led to two preference types. The first type, which was
given higher scores – but evaluated the lowest in Békés – supports improvement of
the labour force market and development of the informatics. The other type prefers
accession to the EU together with civil organisations – this mostly characterizes
people of Bács-Kiskun.
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
Table 22
Types of regional development
“Work and informatics”
“Accession to the EU and the civil society”
(51.1)
(8.5)
Qualified young workers …
Program for multilingual region
Training of adult education professionals
Dissemination of information about the EU
Movement for health development
Prepare the intellectuals and management for
accessing the EU
System of information of regional labour market
Preaserve identity of Hungarian minorities
abroad and ethnic minorities in Hungary
Encouragement of distance work in the region
Support of civil organisations
Improvement of distance learning
Encouragement of the local community or-
ganisation
Informatic development of scattered farms
Running local masscommunication and Internet
People of the South Plain Region consider Szeged as the most qualified capital
of the region (53%), while Kecskemét was given 27% and Békéscsaba 10%. Most
of the citizens of Csongrád (85%) thought their own county seat as a suitable capi-
tal of the region, citizens of Bács-Kiskun (57%) thought Kecskemét as the suitable
county seat, while Békés people preferred Szeged as more qualified than Kecs-
kemét.
Table 23
Which city would you recommend for the capital of the region?
(column-percentage)**
Region
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Szeged
53 32 45 85
Kecskemét
27 57 9 6
Békéscsaba
10 1 32 1
Gyula
3 0 9 0
Hódmezővásárhely
2 0 2 5
Other
town
4 8 2 2
** For the explanation see: Appendix I.
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
The emphasised role of Szeged in the region is due to people’s opinion whereas
Csongrád has the best infrastructural and innovative conditions (Table X.)
Contemporary mass-communication constantly deals with accession to the EU.
People of the South Great Plain Region mainly see the drawbacks of accession
because they are afraid of the increasing of social and regional inequalities. They
do not believe in the improvement of the social status of the young and the pen-
sioners nor in the improvement of the positions of the region and the counties
within Hungary (scores are under 50).
Table 24
In your opinion are the following statements true or false?
(the proportion of “yes” answers, in percentage)
When Hungary joins the European Union...
Region
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
There will be a larger difference between the
71 68 79 68
rich and poor*
The role of Budapest will be more significant
70 66 74 68
in the country
There will be a larger difference between the
60 58 66 58
eastern and western part of the country*
The role of particular settlements will be
57 58 61 53
more significant in the country
The role of the regions in the country will
50 52 47 50
increase
Positions of youngsters will be improved
50
50
50
51
The overall position of the country will be
50 50 46 52
better
The role of the rural countryside will be
41 42 42 39
more important
The role of the counties will be more
37 36 39 36
important
Better position of the pensioners*
25
28
19
25
* For the explanation see: Appendix I.
Putting on stage variables for examining supposed EU membership and the
expected benefits from this main component analysis showed that more people are
‘optimistic’ than ‘pessimistic’ on the question of accession. The optimists hope that
the situation of the country will improve and the role of the regions, too, while the
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
pessimists worry about the deepening differences in living standards and between
the different regions.
Table 25
Contrasting views regarding EU accession
“Optimistic”
“Pessimistic”
(28.5)
(17.1)
The situation in the country will be better in
There will be a larger difference between the rich
complex entirety
and poor
The role of the countryside will be more
There will be a larger difference between the
significant
eastern and western part of the country
Better position of youngsters
The role of Budapest will be more important in
the country
The role of the regions will be more significant
The role of particular settlements will be more
significant
The role of the counties will be more important
in the country
The position of the pensioners will be better
In the case of the optimists, county subvariables do not differ much from each
other but in Békés county people are more optimistic than pessimistic. Socio-
cultural elements do not affect the judgements on EU membership, but regression
models in Békés and Csongrád throw light on the values of the intellectuals:
university graduates are more pessimistic and do not have optimistic judgement on
EU membership.
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
“The potentates spare us many things expect paying
and obedience. They say to us: Why are you working
for, what are you working of, what are your hopes?
Happiness, isn’t it? Let us arrange things for you and
we lead you to happiness.’ Well, gentlemen we do not
let you do so. However, touching your soft careness
towards us, we ask the men in power to stay inside
their frontiers. Just be confined to be fair: we take for
our happiness ourselves.”
Benjamin Constant, 1819–
II The condition of civil society in the South
Hungarian Great Plain
1 The changes of thinking about the civil society
Many experts, scientists defined the notion of civil society in all sorts of ways.
After Aristotle, the notion up until the 17th century meant the integration of political
existence with society. Up until the 18th century, the notion of the state and the civil
society are not separated from each other. The state is a social power that was born
by the consensus of its citizens (Locke). According to the principle of the social
contract, community gives sovereignty to the state. Laws apply to the state power,
too (Hobbes, Rousseau). Separating the powers of government establishes safety
without fear (Montesquieu).
The Scottish enlightenment separated first the notion of society and state. Their
position relied upon the fact society has its free operation as compared to the state.
Hence, civilisation, citizenship, political publicity establishes the parts of the no-
tion of civil society.
From the beginning of the 19th century by the expansion of capitalism the econ-
omy became more and more important for the society, the idea of civil society was
saturated with economic institutions and action. The protection of private property
meant the guarantee of the independence from the state and one of the most signifi-
cant guarantees of the autonomy of civil society separate from the state.
Hegel considered civil society as a mediating space between a family and the
state. In Marx’s and Engels’ works the dichotomy of society and state appeared
sharply: state meant the political order while civil society the sphere of the eco-
nomic relations, the social space where the individuals took the material-economic
actions.
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Tönnies approached the explanation of the civil society in two ways. First one is
a society with a natural “face to face” relationship based on the personal relation-
ships of the feudal era. The second one is a gradually formalised modern society
based on merchandise and money relations.
Tocqueville uses the division of the state, political society and civil society.
State is a representation, bureaucracy, the world of parliament, while the civil soci-
ety is a space of private action together with the economic actions. The political
society is a space of the associations; public life, media, and publicity, which are
practising some kind of control function over the state. Ervin Csizmadia also uses
this kind of division like ordinary civil society, civil society movement and the
representation of state interest.
According to Iván Szelényi, from the point of view of the history of ideas, civil
society usually appears as an alternative of the classes or as a critic of the structure
of power. The source of law in ordeal societies ruled over the society. Opposite to
this civil society is based the principle of the people’s sovereignty and supposes
that the individuals, that are in symmetric relation with each other in the respect of
law, as citizens regulate the conditions of social order through free organisations.
Gramsci regards civil society as the ethical essence of the state, as a human control
of the state, which calls the state’s attention to the moral limits of its functions.
In 1930’s, the concept of civil society with anti-republican content was used
against the democracy of representatives. Civil society that was established behind
the bastion of the monarchy, family, community, nation, was set against the par-
liamentary democracy.
In 1960’s and 70’s the notion of autonomy plays a more and more significant
role in the thinking of civil society. The emphasis of the economic dimension was
expanded to things like education, culture, and religion or in certain cases civil
actions. Recently the concept about the mutual relationship of civil society and the
state both use the conditions of mutual democratisation.
András Bozóki makes a difference between civil society and informal society.
The existence of civil society suggests legally conscious behaviour, while informal
society is concerned about informal inherent enforcement.
Habermas in his book “Theory of communicative action” does not use the ex-
pression civil community but the theory of the non-ruling field of the communica-
tion. This could be applied to such social fields where civil society expands.
In the notion of civil society today there prevails the dichotomy of non-govern-
mental (NGO) and profit-non-profit organisations (NPO). Regarding this concep-
tion, the spheres of social activity theoretically (in the developed democracy practi-
cally too) could be separated. The goal of the economy is profit; the goal of politics
is power. The world of the civil society is where the citizens following autonomous
goals, organising themselves into communities, act independently serving their
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interests. The adequacy of the definition does not mean the mentioned spheres do
not mix in the social practice of the democratic changes in Eastern Europe and in
the work of some individuals (Bőhm, 1999).
1.1 Civil society in Eastern Europe
The different social development4 of Western and Eastern Europe evoked the es-
tablishment of different conceptual systems concerning civil societies. If the state
from the beginning practices legitimate power over its citizens, then there is a
chance to become part of the “civil society” (originating from this) because the
legitimacy of civil society supports it. But in Eastern Europe the case was different,
the civilians had never been autonomous subjects, rather they were at various times
but defenceless bondsmen, intellectuals without political influence or rebellious
proletarian workers.
Civil society in Eastern Europe was not characterised by the non-ruling space of
communication of Habermas because the laws and decrees set by the dictatorial
system did not make possible the formation of this kind of social space. Because of
specific socio-economic development, civil society was filled with different con-
tents than in theWest. In the systems of the socialist states, the idea of civil society
reflected on the dictatorial power and opposing it became a kind of political strat-
egy (Szelényi, 1990). It was necessary to establish a strategy which did not directly
open confrontation with the communist state (for example the revolution in 56’, the
Hungarian revolution which was unsuccessful because of the supressive Russian
system and military superiority) but is directed to limit and to oust the state gradu-
ally from everyday life, which means not to change but to force back the state
(Michnik, 1978).
So civil society-as a field against the oppressive state- became the symbol of
alternatives or parallel society in Eastern Europe- according to Hankiss, a second
society. Around 1987–88, in the time of the political transition, civil society was
already a political slogan. The notion of the civil society was born in consequence
of the spontaneous social movements; at the same time became the key element of
the political programme of democratic opposition (Kuti–Králik–Barabás, 1999).
4 From the predecessing processes of the Hungarian and Eastern-Central European civil society
three elements are worth of mention but there is no enough time for its discussion. These are the
following: interruption in the bourgeoise development, the broken development of the society in the
20th c entury, and the paternality of state power (Bőhm, 1999).
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1.2 The non-profit sector in Hungary
The notion of non-profit sector-in contrast to the civil society-was taken from the
western market economy. Whenever the strategic question arises regarding welfare
services, the role of the non-governmental and non-profit organisation has a sig-
nificant role. The decision-makers need the orientation points and these were
founded in the practices of developed countries in the way the non-profit organisa-
tion (NPO) acted. The name non-governmental sector (NGO) is mostly used by
international organisations in order to differentiate those civil organisations that are
partners of the governmental sectors (Kuti–Králik–Barabás, 1999).
To the non-profit sector belong those organisations which are independent from
the government, institutionalised, their profit is not distributed among the mem-
bers, leaders, and owners, possess their own corporation and spontaneous func-
tioning elements and do not function as religious or direct political organisations.
(Salamon–Anheier, 1995). Today the expressions civil and non-profit organisations
are used as synonyms, but sometimes the names “third” or “spontaneous” sector
are used. Despite the conceptional variety, the analysts mostly agree in the claims
that the various forms of civil initiatives and self-organizations make up modern
civil society. Its institutionalisation is made by legal systems that guarantee the
basic human rights that respect pluralism in society. (Arató, 1992).
Civil society contains non-profit, non-governmental, and non-direct political
organisations, a sphere that stands outside the (governmental) forums. The non-
profit organisation mediates between the states and its citizens and power of econ-
omy and citizens. These are used as tools for various explorations, satisfaction of
social demand, pluralism and create the mechanisms for the social control of the
government and market (Kuti–Králik–Barabás, 1999).
1.3 Civil organisations as reflected in the Hungarian legal system 5
The contemporary history of the Hungarian non-profit sector-from the aspect of
regulation-began in the 1980’s with the rehabilitation of the foundations, recog-
nizing these organizations as legal entities in the Civil Code. Two years later the
act on public meetings guaranteed the freedom of public meeting, and established
the rights of citizens and their groups to found associations without governmental
permit.
From the modification of the Civil Code in 1994, non-profit organisations could
be founded in three new forms. Public funds are foundations, which are qualified to
5 Based on Kuti–Kárlik–Barabás, 1999.
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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
provide legally recognized national activities and to take over responsibilities from
national institutions. The founders can be only the parliament, government, and
local government. Despite some special instructions, the same rules are valid for
the public and private funds.
The public corporation is an organisation with an elected leadership, which can
be founded only by law. The economic chamber and special association, and the
Hungarian Academy of Sciences took this form of structure after 1994. The public
corporation can be empowered by the government to practice certain defined juris-
diction. In other cases, rules for associations are applied.
The association for public use is a non-profit organisation that is founded in the
assembly form to provide public services. The prohibition of profit distribution
applies to them. In the case of profit, it has to be used for public purposes. Organi-
sations and individuals can be founders. Isssues not regulated in the Civil Code are
governed by the Assembly Law.
• The registration of foundations, associations, and public corporations take
place in county (capital) courts, while the associations for public use are
registered in a Court of Registrations. According to the law about non-profit
organisations in 1997, after the registration the association, in compliance
with the decree of public use, can be classified, which provides preferential
tax and allowances. Foundations, public funds, associations, and public cor-
porations, associations for public use can be registered as an association for
public use if its functions are considered public. This does not exclude that
besides the members, others can participate in public services, organizational
ventures are directed to the realisation of public goals, profit is not distrib-
uted and it is used for the purpose stated in the documents. The organizations
do not have any political functions, are independent from the political par-
ties, comply with the rules regarding the functioning of the associations for
public use, the inner structure, and management.
• For the prominent associations for public use, there are two additional con-
ditions. The organisations for public function should perform public tasks.
This must be based on the law or legal authorization and confirmed by the
national or local government. Data regarding the function and management
should be publicized through local or national media.
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1.4 Some characteristic “civil problems” in Hungary
The characteristics of the Hungarian civil social development involve several di-
lemmas; some of them are listed below.
From 1989 onward in Hungary, there was a very fast expansion of the institu-
tions and system of political democracy. Today there is a functioning political
democracy in our country. The establishment of social democracy is different in its
nature and is realised by a complex process. The origin of this is an imbroglio of
the “small circles of freedom” in society. Regarding the meaning of social democ-
racy, this process involves a co-operation of citizens and the satisfaction of their
needs and handling of their problems. Political democracy is organic if it has a
democratic social basisis. One of the biggest challenges of the Eastern European
societies – Hungarian too – is the establishment of the “base” of political democ-
racy. This is probably the most significant task – and to manage the development
of the social democracy or civil society. Freqently not only this “base” is missing
but the question of minimal conditions is also significant as material existence,
enough free time and energy.
Hungary (political democracy), the whole Hungarian society, and local political
leadership are faced with a problem – known from the earlier time – known as the
strategy of realisation (big jump). This problem originated in the backwardness of
Hungarian society. Our personal knowledge, our way of thinking, ideals, and needs
are similar. Therefore it was assumed that it would be simple to adopt Western
practices. In reality – without underrating, the economic problems – the real back-
wardness is present primarily in the field of human relationships, in the culture of
the individuals and their relations; because opposite to misconceptions of many
professionals and politicians – the change of this is most difficult.
The requirements regarding accession to the EU give the opportunity for the re-
searchers to make examinations through which a clear picture is obtained about the
social processes in the region. The lesson of the investigation in the South Great
Hungarian Plain is not only of great importance for those who live in that region,
but it can be the starting point of the series of investigations throughout the whole
country which will demonstrate the position of the Hungarian civil sphere. This is
of great importance because in the South Great Hungarian Plain since 1996 the
number of civil organisations has grown 20–23%. The question is whether this
growth in number also involves conceptual elements and what the position of those
civil organizations is on relevant issues of social democracy6.
In the following, we will disclose a part of the research because the whole mate-
rial of the investigation would require a lot of space.
6 In 1996 there were 3, 6–4 civil organisations per 1000 heads in South Great Hungarian PLain, in
1999 4,5–5,2 (Kuti–Králik–Barabás, 1999).
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2 The background of the investigation
Based on the assignment of the Regional Development Council of the South Great
Hungarian Plain, the management of the researchers from the Social Research
Group of Szolnok from the Great Plain Research Institute of the Centre for Re-
gional Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Science, with the help of many ex-
perts, conducted an empirical survey among the civil organisations of the region
which helped to implement the local social developmental operative programme of
the South Hungarian Great Plain. For the establishment and accomplishment of the
programmes the co – operation with civil organisations is necessary, so this kind of
survey, besides providing the newest information about the position of the civil
spheres of the region, indicates to what extent these organisations could participate
in the processes of programme planning and implementation. In the study, we
analyse data, map the position of the organisations that function in the region and
we introduce their attitude towards the region and the regional development plan.
Only the non-profit organisations functioning in the region were included in the
samples. Their number in 1998 according to the data of the Central Statistical Of-
fice accounted for 6043. We have used 7053 based on the judicial data of the
county. Because of the methodology and contextual viewpoint, we reduced this
number in the following way:
• From the social organisations registered by the legal system those were taken
into the sample whose function is not primarily a political interest group
• From the registered foundations, public funds and associations for public use
with a geographical element or economic connection were included.
In the course of the research, we have sent a letter to nearly 5,000 civil organi-
sations of the South Hungarian Great Plain. The following table shows the active
civil organisations in the South Hungarian Great Plain, the number of sent and
returned questionnaires and the proportion as an outcome of these.
There are 867 organisations in the sample and this is 12–13% of the
organisations of the region, according to the evidence and data of the Central
Statistical Office. The proportion of returns is also high (17%); data collection in
the past does not exceed 10% of returns. In the case of questionnaires sent to
specific population groups, it is evident that the respondent will represent his/her
own opinion. In the case of the organizations, the responses depend on the person
who is filling out the questionnaire. This is the reason why we enclosed a letter
with the questionnaire in which we approached the leaders. We hypothetically
supposed that they represent the overall opinion of the organisations.
The results of the survey are examined on three levels. Two territorial variables
(county and type of settlement) gave us the opportunity to receive data on regional
development, but the type of the organisation is a significant category.
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In many cases we have asked for the evaluation of the respondent based on
school grades (scale of five). The received values are converted to the scale of 100,
which equals 100 when every single answer is maximal and 0 when the answer on
the question is minimal. On this scale, the values under 50 points were taken as
negative opinions (antipathy, dissatisfaction, etc.) and the values over 50 points as
positive opinions (sympathy, satisfaction).
Table 26
Data of the civil research
Type of the
Bács-Kiskun Békés Csongrád Total
organisation
The number in the
Association 1882 (1494) 1363 (1148) 1344 (1190) 4589 (3832)
South Hungarian
Foundation 950 (790) 675 (628) 828 (793) 2453
(2211)
Great Plain region
Church 1
4
6
11
(pcs)
Total
2833 (2284) 2042 (1776) 2178 (1983) 7053 (6043)
Association 1465
1063
1045
3573
Received
questionnaire
Foundation 332
380
494
1206
(pcs)
Church
40
121
42
203
Total
1837
1564
1581
4982
Returned
Association 219
172
160
551
questionnaire
Foundation 100
102
114
316
(pcs)
Total
319
274
274
867
Proportion of the
Association 15
16
15
15
returns* (%)
Foundation 30
27
23
26
Total
17
18
17
17
Those who returned
Association 12 (15)
13
(15)
12 (13)
12 (14)
in the percentage of
Foundation 11 (13)
15 (16)
14 (14)
13 (14)
the organisations (%) Total
11 (14)
13 (15)
13 (14)
12 (14)
* The proportion of the returns: the percentage of those who returned the questionnaire.
In the brackets are the data and indexes from 1988 of the Central Statistical Office, which show
relatively high deviation from the data processing used by us.
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3 The main characteristics of the organisations
3.1 Territorial
distribution
36% of the organisations presented in the sample are from County Bács-Kiskun,
32% from Békés and 32% from County Csongrád. 23% are located in county seats,
44% in other towns, and 33% in villages. Distribution regarding counties is very
interesting: in County Csongrád county towns, in Békés other towns and in County
Bács-Kiskun villages returned the questionnaires. Comparing these numbers to the
national research in 1996 (Kuti–Králik–Barabás, 1999), we can say that the
organisations of the county seats are represented at a lower percentage, while the
organisations of the towns in higher proportion than the national average is. In
villages, there is almost a similar sample structure and national distribution.
Table 27
The distribution of the organisations regarding the type of settlement
Type of settlement
Distribution of the organisations in
National distribution of the
the sample (%) (1999)
organisations (%) (1996)
County seat
23
32
Other town
44
33
Village 33
35
3.2 The year of foundation, founders
24% of the organisations were founded before 1990, 40% between 1991 and 1995
and 36% after 1996. The youngest organisations appeared in 1999, the oldest –
through its predecessor – in 1841. Among the organisations founded before 1990
those from County Békés are present in higher proportion, while those of County
Csongrád in lower proportion. After systemic change, the foundation of the organi-
sations was less frequent in County Békés than in the other two counties, while the
organisations from County Csongrád – following the average number between
1991 and 1995 – the organisations founded after 1996 are overrepresented. The
distribution of the organisations in County Bács-Kiskun more or less follows the
regional average. Before the systemic change, the organisations were mostly
founded in towns, following that the waves of the foundations appeared in county
seats and after 1990 reached villages. Associations were founded mostly before
1990 and after 1991 mainly foundations were established. The distribution of the
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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
year of the foundations of the associations is distributed equally in all the three
groups, but 92% of the foundations were founded after 1990.
The founders of the organisations are mainly private entities. The following ta-
ble shows the distribution of the organisations regarding their founders. The devia-
tion among the counties is minimal.
Table 28
Who were the founders of the organisations?
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Total
(%)
(%)
(%)
(%)
Private
entities
27 24 23 74
Local
governments
6 4 5 16
Economic
institutions
4 3 3 9
Institutions
3 3 2 8
Other
civil
organisations
2 1 1 4
Other
2 1 1 5
Organisations founded by the local governments are mainly characteristic of
villages and partly of towns. Their proportion in county seats is low. Economic
organisations mostly founded civil organisations in county seats. The organisations
founded by the institutions are mainly present in county seats, within this group the
founders of the organisations in towns and villages are mainly the local govern-
mental organisations. The civil organisations characteristically are located in
county seats and partly in towns and founded individual civil organisations. The
government participates more than twice, the economic organisations more than
three times in the establishment of the foundations than in the associations. Among
the private entities the foundation of the associations, among the civil organisations
and institutions the establishment of the foundations is more frequent. Among the
institutions maintained by local governments, there are more foundations, while
other institutions participate equally as founders in both organisational forms.
3.3 Type of the organisations, the number of participants
64% of the organisations in the sample are associations, 36% are foundations and
this proportion corresponds with the distribution of the organisational types in re-
gion. The distribution of the foundations and associations in the counties is nearly
similar, although the associations in County Bács-Kiskun and the foundations in
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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
County Csongrád are overrepresented. In county seats the foundations, in villages
the associations are overrepresented. In towns, the proportion follows the average
distribution.
Table 29
What is the type of the organisation?
County seat
Other town
Village
Total
(column %)*
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Association
55 64 68 64
Foundation
45 36 32 36
* The percentages in the columns show in which proportions are found different answering possibili-
ties if we take a column as 100%. It becomes evident, if we compare it with the average distribution,
which answers are overrepresented among particular variables. For e.g., the average distribution of
the associations and foundations is 64–36%; this proportion in the county seats is 55–45%, which
means that in the county seats the foundations are present in higher proportion, so they are overrep-
resented, while the associations are underrepresented.
56% of the associations are classified for public use, within it 6% are classified
as special public use and 5% are expecting a legal decision about their status. In
this way the organisations from County Békés follow the regional distribution, in
County Bács-Kiskun the associations for non-public use, in Csongrád the associa-
tions for public use are overrepresented. Being non-public is a characteristic pri-
marily of the associations. 82% of the non-public use organisations are associa-
tions, but 79% of the foundations are for public use. 82% of the associations for
public use were founded after the systemic change, 40% of those founded earlier
belong to this group. Regarding their number, the associations for public use are
present in county seats more than elsewhere.
37 percent of the organisations with less than 10 members are mainly founda-
tions. The organisations could be classified in three groups: small, medium size,
and big organisations.
Table 30
How many members does the organisation have?
%
Less than 10 (foundation)
37
10–29 (small organisation)
22
30–79 (medium-size organisation)
20
More than 80 (big organisation)
20
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
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The average number of the members (based on the cleared sample7) is 105 in
which the most populous organisation accounted for 9, 500 participants. If we
make a hypothetical estimate, it appears that the civil organisations of the South
Hungarian Great Plains include 55 or 47 percent of the population8 in the particular
region depending on whether we reckon with data in the judicial system or Central
Statistical Office data. In this case, it would not be necessary to establish any kind
of programs for developing civil societies, what is more the governmental and non-
governmental representatives from Europe would come to the South Hungarian
Great Plain to learn about the civil sphere because the proportion is extremely high.
These numbers actually show the use of artificially increased numbers of people by
the civil organisations probably with good reason. The other explanation is that
half of the population in the region (almost every second person) belongs (in a
wider sense) to support groups of the civil organizations, that is, by the way, far
from the notion of organised membership. One more thing could be observed: the
“civil oriented” persons very often are members of 5 or 6 different organisations at
the same time.
The organisations with less than 10 members are overrepresented in counties
Csongrád and Békés. This is comparable to the foundations in counties. In the case
of the organisations, the distribution in the county minimally differs from the re-
gional averages. The villages are represented mostly by small and medium – sized
organizations, while the cities are represented by bigger organisations. The civil
organisations of the South Plain possess nearly 91, 000 members, which means 7
% of the regional population. These numbers, as in the previous case, show ex-
tremely high proportions.
If we look at the number of real participants in the function of the organisations,
the result is much more realistic. In 93% of the organisations of the South Hungar-
ian Great Plain, there is a staff. The total staff is approximately 16, 200. On the
average there are 20 volunteers, but there is a group of salaried employees (800
persons), and others 1, 400 persons. Volunteers work in 81% of the organizations.
18% have employees and 9% belong to others. There is overlapping between these
groups. In our subsequent analysis, “salaried employees” and “others” were
merged to create a group with a manageable element. The volunteer activities are
differentiated from every other work element in remuneration and this fact proves
our previous statement.
It is evident from data that the organisations have 5 salaried employees on the
average. It is important to state that the averages of one organisation are not used as
7 The extremely high values are subtracted from the index because of the strong influence on the
average.
8 The population of the SHGP in 1st July, 1999. based on data of Central Statistical Office was 1,
349, 711.
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measuring indexes (in relation to other organisations), but only for those, which
belong to the target category. The quantity of data in this way could prevent pub-
licity that would mix the differences between organisations. Although the measur-
ing numbers measure (the values are comparable with the values measured in other
places in the country) they do not show the real situation. For example in the case
of salaried employees we should say that in almost every civil organisation of the
index there is one employee, but the reality is that 82% of the organizations have
no paid staff. In case they have a staff, there are 5 employees on the average.
60% (9, 800 persons) of the organisational members work occasionally and
40% work regularly. 18% of the members of the South Hungarian Great Plains
work in organisations (based on the decreased organisational membership: 91,
000). If we accept these members as closely related organisational members and
take the proportion referring to every civil organisation in the region, it is clear that
8–10% of the population is working in civil organisations. These data seem to be
closer to reality than the proportion of membership around 50%.
We have grouped the interviewed organisations in three groups regarding the
number of employees. The percentage in the case of 5 or less employees is 38 (8%
have no employees). The percentage of the organisations where the number of
employees is between 6 and 16 is 31. 32% have less than 17 employees. In the
most populated organisations, the number of employees is 300–400.
There is no significant difference among the counties regarding salaried em-
ployees and occasional workers: those from County Csongrád, regarding their
numbers can expect larger numbers of occasional workers, while in County Bács-
Kiskun a smaller number of regular employees. With the expansion of the size of
settlements, there is a decrease in the proportion of the organisations with more
than 17 employees. The situation in the towns is more appropriate in the groups of
6–16 employees (this is the case in county towns too). The situation in the third
group is more or less balanced. Only in county seats and partly in larger towns, the
organisations can afford to have salaried employees and these organisations can
afford regular workers. There are more volunteers in smaller towns than in the
large county towns. In the case of the foundations, in more than 50% of them, there
are less than 5 workers. In one third of the organisations there are 6–16 employees
and in 15% the number of employees is higher than 17. In 41% of the organiza-
tions, there are more than 17 employees and in 29 and 30% belonging to the second
and third group. The proportion of the employees in the foundations and organisa-
tions shows a significant deviation only among the regular employees: the associa-
tions possess a permanent labour force (capacity) in higher proportion.
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
3.4 Territorial character and scope
Regarding territorial character 66% is local, 10% is microregional or agglomerate,
9% county (or the branch of the regional organisations), 4% regional (or the branch
of regional organisations), 8% national (or the branch of the national organisa-
tions), and 9% belong to others. In County Bács-Kiskun there are mostly local and
microregional organisations, in County Békés and in County Csongrád regional
and national organisations are overrepresented.
Table 31
What is the character of the organisation?
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Total
(%)
(%)
(%)
(%)
Local
27 21 21 68
Micro
regional
4 3 2 10
County
2 4 3 9
Regional,
national
3 3 6 12
Total
36 32 32 100
The area where the local organisations mainly exist is in villages, in towns there
are mainly microregional, and in county seats national and regional organisations.
The 76% of the foundations are local, in the case of the associations, it is 64%,
while in other regional groups the associations are overrepresented.
Our question about the function of the organisation just partly differed from this
topic. Nearly half of the organisations operate on a settlement level, linked to 28%
of institutions. Other characteristic functioning areas are microregions (14%) and
counties (12%). Among the organisations that function linked to the institutions
there are twice as many foundations than associations. In every other case the form
of association is widespread. More than half of the foundations that are present in
the sample are connected to the institution. Organisations functioning on the level
of settlement or microregion are mostly the characteristics of County Bács-Kiskun,
county organisations of Békés, and regional, national, and international
organisations of County Csongrád; organisations functioning closely related to
institutions are less frequent in County Bács-Kiskun, in other cases the distribution
among counties is more or less uniform.
Organisations joined to the institutions, moreover the county; regional, national,
and international organisations are concentrated in county towns. Organisations
functioning on the settlement level are mainly active in villages, while the centres
of the microregional organisations are in the towns. Two – thirds of the mentioned
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
institutions are educational. These institutions are underrepresented in County Bács
– Kiskun9 and in county towns are overrepresented. The 39% of the foundations
and 12% of associations function connected to educational institutions. The pro-
portion of the foundations that function connected to other institutions is 16%,
while the proportion of the associations is 8%.
4 The functioning of the organisation
4.1 Functions
Organisations that returned the highest number of questionnaires are working with
sports and recreation. This is followed by cultural and educational activities (Cen-
tral Statistical Office). Not all (national) data presented in the statistical yearbook
of the Central Statistical Office of 1998 could be compared to categories used by
us, but where they are comparable, the proportions are more or less similar.
Table 32
Field of activity of the organisation
In the sample
National
(%)
(%)
Sport and leisure
27
31
Cultural 15
10
Educational 11
13
Healthcare 7
4
Social 7
9
Children and youth
6
–
Public life, interest representation
4
–
Rural-, regional and settlement development
4
4
Professional organisation
3
–
Other 15
–
The predominance of medical organisations is a characteristic of County Cson-
grád; the social institutions are characteristic for County Békés, and the organisa-
tions from the field of culture in County Bács-Kiskun. The organisations for sport
9 In County Bács-Kiskun 17% of the organisations are connected to the educational institutions,
in County Békés 25%, in County Csongrád 23%.
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
and recreation are overrepresented, while the educational ones are underrepre-
sented; in County Csongrád the number of organisations for sport and recreation
are less than the averages show.
The dispersion of the fields of activity of the organisations based on the type of
settlement is precisely differentiated. The medical organisations are the character-
istics mainly of the county seats; the cultural and educational organisations are
present there and in other towns too. Children and youth, professional organisa-
tions among the county seats are very frequently present in villages. In the towns
and villages, there is a higher proportion of recreational organisations and the or-
ganisations for rural and regional development. The interest group organisations
are present mostly in towns and we should say that the most colourful palette of the
civil organisations can be found in villages; there is the highest proportion of the
functioning organizations.
The foundations are overrepresented in the field of medical care, social help,
culture, education, and youth. The predominance of associations is significant in
activities like sports and recreation, public life, and interest representation. The
palette of activity of the associations is more coloured and in the “other” category,
the proportion is significantly higher. The proportion of the types of organisations
is balanced in the field of professional organisations, rural, regional, and settlement
development.
4.2 Goals
The main goal of the majority of the organisations is promotion, sponsorship (26%)
and social benefit (12%). Among the goals, training, special development (9%),
interest representation, organising and services (8–8–8%) have nearly the same
proportion. The main goal of 42% of the organisations connected to the institutions
is sponsorship and it could be assumed that sponsorship means to help the particu-
lar institution. In the case of the foundations, the most frequently used goals are
sponsorship aid and fund raising. In the foundations that function together with the
institutions, the goals are complemented with training and special development.
Interest representation, organising, training, special development are more frequent
in the case of associations. In the field of self help and services, there is nearly the
same proportion, although foundations are represented in greater numbers in self-
help, while the associations have a greater share of services.
The distribution of the field of activity on the county level in four cases deviates
from the average. The interest representation organisations are above average in
County Bács-Kiskun. In the case of the organisational tasks, the institutions are
overrepresented in Békés, while the tasks of sponsorship aids; training, special
44
Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
development are the characteristics of County Csongrád. In the latter case, there is
a connection with the higher proportion of the foundations in County Csongrád
where the mentioned activities are largely present. Interest representation is a char-
acteristic of towns, the special training and development are the characteristics of
county seats, but these settlement types are underrepresented regarding the collec-
tion of funds. The goals of villages are more varied, they have a higher ratio in the
“category of others”.
65 percent of the organisations want to develop and expand initiatives, 22 per-
cent want to hold the level of recent activity. The main goal of 4 percent is to slow
their decline due to the limited range of activity and 5 percent would like to estab-
lish a new model of qualitative development. Regarding the goals, organisations
from County Bács-Kiskun are more determined. The number of those who did not
answer is much lower. Compared to their number, they are underrepresented
among the expansionists and overrepresented among the organisations that hold the
level of their present activities. In County Békés the number of organisations plan-
ning the establishment of new innovative and qualitative development models is
lower. The distribution in County Csongrád from this point of view is similar to the
regional distribution.
The connection with settlement type in this question is obvious: those who want
to hold the level are mostly from villages, those who want to develop are from
towns (including county seats), groups for innovations are connected to county
seats.
Table 33
What is the primary goal of the organisation?
County seat
Other town
Village
Total
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
To slow the decline due to the limited
4 4 4 4
range of functions
To keep up with present
activities
17 20 27 22
To
develop
and
expand
initiatives
66 70 59 65
Establishment of new qualitative
9 4 4 5
development model
Did
not
answer
4 2 5 3
In the category “development and expansion of initiatives”, the foundations are
represented to a higher degree than their proportions. In the case of “keep up with
their present activities” the associations are overrepresented. Regarding other an-
swers, there is no significant deviation among the two types of organisations.
45
Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
4.3 Fundraising by grant applications
The proportion of the grant applicant organisations between 1996 and 1999 dou-
bled. The proportion of grant recipients also increased but only slightly. 77% of the
organisations did not apply for any grant in 1996. 55% did not submit applications
in 1999. Civil organisations from the South Great Plain sample for a period of 4
years handed in 4, 560 applications and 2226 grants were awarded. From 1996 to
1999, 504 organisations (88%) applied and 411 won (47%) grants. In this four-year
period, the competing organizations submitted an average of 9 applications and
were awarded an average of 5.4 grants. In the four year grant period, three groups
were formed: 42% of the organisations did not compete, 11% applied, but did not
win and 47% applied and received a grant.
Table 34
The number of applications and grants awarded 1996–1999
The number of…
Applications Grants
received
In 1996
671
397
In 1997
1000
516
In 1998
1420
669
In 1999
1469
644*
Total 4560
2226
* The competitions of 1999 were still incomplete.
Among the competing organisations, those from County Bács-Kiskun were un-
derrepresented. The difference between counties is primarily manifested in the
proportion of the organisations, which submit two or more grants. In 1996, more
organisations from County Csongrád competed; in 1997. County Békés was
catching up and from that period they are about equal. What is more in 1999. The
proportion of the competing organisations from County Békés was higher, al-
though it should be emphasised that at the time of data collection in 1999, data
were incomplete.
County Bács-Kiskun is rather passive in the competitions, so in the circle of the
winners is underrepresented. In 1996 the winners were mostly from County Csong-
rád, in 1997 County Békés joined this group. In 1998, County Csongrád takes a
lead and in 1999, County Békés will probably take over the leading position. Re-
garding the number of winning grants, the organisations from County Csongrád
were leading between 1996 and 1998, but County Békés was catching up in 1999.
Regular and successful grants (by organisations underlined in the questionnaire)
46
Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
are mostly received by associations and-regarding the settlement type- county seats
and towns.
37% of all applications submitted by civil organisations of the South Great
Plain were directed to the foundations and organisations10 that were enumerated in
the questionnaire. Selection of the organisations listed in the questionnaire was
made by expert consultants, based on grant organizations that required well-
qualified applications. The 1684 applications were submitted by 37% of the organi-
sations (296). From the applications, 926 were accepted (41% from the all accepted
competitions) which depicts 28% of the organisation (242). The competing organi-
sations handed 5.7 competitions average and 3.8 of these were the winning one.
Comparing the competitive habits and sources of income of the organizations,
we can point out that the organisations that do not compete primarily function from
membership fees, membership support and aids. 75% of the organisations that in-
dicated support of the local government as their primary income did not submit
applications to the organizations that are enumerated in the questionnaire. Incomes
from the 1% of taxes are the primary financial sources for those who did not apply
to the enumerated organisations. Organizations with higher income usually submit
applications to the listed grant providers. The frequency of competitions is in direct
proportion to the incomes. The annual income in 1998 is higher in the case of the
organisation with regular competitive habits than in the case of those that do not
compete every year. Those with single grants in 1995 belonged to the medium
income category and those with several grants belonged to the higher income cate-
gory.
Organisations with more than 10 members usually submit grant applications.
Winning grants is more frequent in the case of 30 members, while the applications
to the listed organizations are characteristic of the organisations with more than 80
members. Regarding the number of the associations, their percentage proportion is
higher. 70% of the non-competitive organisations function on the settlement level.
Among those who applied to the enumerated institutions, those from County Békés
were underrepresented, while in the circle of the winners the proportion of the
counties is balanced. Among those who applied to more than one organization and
those who received grants from several sources, the organisations from County
Csongrád are overrepresented.
From the review of the data, a careful conclusion arises: the decisions of the
listed donor organisations indicate a territorial equalization trend, although 88% of
10 These were the following: Ministries of special fields, Mobilitas Youth Service, Ecological
Foundation, Soros Foundation, National Budgetary Support, Pro Renovanda Culturea, Program for
Children and Youth, National Youth Public Fund, European Union Special Preparatory Fund
(Sapard), József Attila Social and Cultural Foundation, Phare competitions, Autonomy Public Fund,
Art and Free Art Foundation, National Employment Public Fund.
47
Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
the competitors from smaller settlements won grants, while the percentage of towns
and county seats is 79%. There is a need for this territorial equalisation because
there is a disproportion between the incomes of civil organisations of different
settlement types and the national distribution of the population. There are many
components of territorial equalisation; it is necessary to increase the number and
the absorption capability of civil organisations in smaller settlements.
Table 35
Distribution of the incomes of civil organisations and the number of the populations
in certain types of settlement
Type of settlement
Distribution of the income of
Distribution of the number of
the organisation
the population
(1994)
(1994)
Capital 69,4
18,8
County seat
16,6
17,7
Other town
8,4
26,5
Village 5,6
37,0
Source: Kondorosi, 1998.
4.4 The role of public life
The reason for investigating the role of organizations in public life is that the po-
litical activity (in the narrow sense) of civil organisations has increased in recent
years. The following table refers to this activity and indicates the results of the
county elections regarding civil organisations.
Table 36
The change of the mandate of civil organisations in the county elections
Counties
The proportion of the mandate
The proportion of the mandate
of civil organizations (%),
of civil organisations (%),
1994
1998
Bács-Kiskun 6,5
6,5
Békés 5,0
10,0
Csongrád 10,0
27,5
Source: Pálné Kovács, 1999.
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
14% of the organisations have a project for the development of local govern-
ment. The proportion of the closed projects is 4%, 12% is planning to establish
these kinds of projects and 74% does not have and does not plan to have projects.
Closed projects relate to county seats, but in the case of planning projects there are
a lot of towns and villages involved. 37% of the organisations think they can influ-
ence the decisions on the local governmental and regional level. The following
table shows the distribution regarding the answers:
Table 37
Whether the organisation is ready to influence the decisions on the level of local govern-
ment or regional level?
%
The proportion of yes/no
answers (%)
Yes, by all means and we have a serious practice about it
6
Yes
Yes, in the case the decision makers establish the forums for
21
37
conversation and cooperation
Yes, together with other organizations
10
No, we are not properly prepared yet
2
No
No, we are not strong enough
6
63
No, this is not our goal
55
Organisations that are able to influence this kind of decision in County Cson-
grád are overrepresented. Organisations from towns and villages were prepared to
influence decision-making at the local and regional levels. The associations were
more appropriate for the influence of local and regional decisions. 52% of the or-
ganisations included in the survey would take part in the establishment of plans on
the regional level. This was present in higher proportion in County Csongrád. In
this activity the associations are overrepresented. Among those who reject the par-
ticipation, the local organisations are overrepresented. Those who would like to
participate are from the following organisational types: rural, regional, urban de-
velopment, public life, interest representation and social organisation. The higher
proportion of those who rejected the participation is in the case of educational or-
ganizations, while in the case of the other fields the proportion of the participants
and non-participants is nearly similar. 29% of the surveyed organisations specified
persons who could have a role in the regional planning processes. Among these,
participation is higher than their share of organizations.
34% of the organisations participate in training for non-profit organizations. 8%
participate continually (educational training) and regularly. Among those who did
not take a part, the reason was the lack of information. 39% of the organisations
49
Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
from County Békés, 28% from Bács-Kiskun and 35% from Csongrád took a part in
training. With the more populous settlements, there was a proportional growth of
the number of training participants, although the number of organisations
possessing leaflets, self-publications, and Internet homepages was increasing.
5 The resources of the organisations
5.1 Management
The management of the organisations is characterised by the fact that their ex-
penses usually exceed their incomes. The average income of the civil organisations
in the region in 1998 was approximately 4 million forints (the highest mentioned
income was 516 million), while the average expenses were 4 million 307 thousand
forints (the highest mentioned expenses were 700 million forints). It is interesting
to compare these with the national data. The average income of one organisation in
1996 was 5, 3 million forints.
Table 38
Changes in number and incomes of the non-profit organisations in Hungary between
1990 and 1996
Year
The number of the non-profit
Incomes
Total income per one
organisations
(million forints)
organisation
(million forints)
1990
15 945
31 370,2
1,97
1993
34 613
118 475,4
3,42
1994
40 013
139 265,7
3,48
1995
42 757
181 916,3
4,25
1996
45 316
239 037,9
5,27
Source: Kuti–Králik–Barabás, 1999.
As we can see there is a continuous positive progress in the incomes of organi-
sations and this progress continues at present. We can conclude that the incomes of
the South Great Plain organisations are much lower than the average.
The following table shows the distribution of the organisations that belong to
the same income category. 60% of the organisations work with less than half a
million forints per year. The weight of particular income groups is more balanced
than the national averages: the proportion of those who manage with less than 50
50
Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
thousand forints is smaller than the proportion of those who manage between half
and 5 million forints, this latter group income is higher.
Table 39
The financial management of the organisations in the year 1998
(How much is the income of the organisation in the year 1998?)
Incomes
The distribution of the organisations (%)
(thousand Ft)
In the sample (1998)
National level (1994)
– 50
21,9
30.5
51 – 500
37,5
36.9
501 – 5000
32,8
23.4
5001 –
7,8
9.2
To simplify the analysis procedure based on expenses, incomes, and expecta-
tions we have formed three groups:
Table 40
Incomes, expenses, and expectations
Incomes
Expenses
Expectations
Lower one-third (33%) Under 120 thousand Ft Under 75 thousand Ft Under 270 thousand Ft
Middle one-third (33%) 121–700 thousand Ft
77–499 thousand Ft
300 thousand –
1 million Ft
Higher one-third (34%) More than 701 thou-
More than 500 thou-
More than 1 million 200
sand Ft
sand Ft
thousand Ft
The deviation among the counties is minimal: in the group with lower income
County Békés, in the group with high income County Csongrád is overrepresented.
In the case of expenses, the difference is very small, in the group with lower
expenses County Bács-Kiskun and Békés are dominant and County Csongrád is the
leader of the group with higher expenses. In two lower grade income, expenses,
and expectation categories going from county seats to villages, there is a growth of
the proportion of the organisations belonging to these categories. In the high degree
income, expenses, and expectations column this tendency is opposite, the propor-
tion of the county seats was the highest. This tendency is not only common in the
South Great Plain; the incomes of the civil organisations in 1996 (national data,
Kuti-Králik-Barabás, 1999) show similar territorial distribution regarding the set-
51
Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
tlement types. The total income of the organisations of the county seats is twice as
much higher as in the case of other towns and three times as much as in villages. In
the case of expenses and expectations, there are no significant deviations among
the organisational types but the incomes in the case of foundations are higher.
From the answers to the question what is the necessary annual income for ap-
propriate implementation of their tasks, we have found that the average is 5 million
840 thousand forints (the highest mentioned expectation was 800 million forints).
The expectation of the organisations in County Bács-Kiskun is most temperate, in
County Békés most of the organisations belong to the middle category of expecta-
tion; the proportion of the organisations from Csongrád and Bács-Kiskun is high in
the middle and higher categories. The expectations of the county organisations in
County Bács-Kiskun, as it can be seen, are high mainly in two wing categories.
Nearly half of the organisations reported a small increase in expenses and incomes
but the increase of the incomes is in the arrears with the increase of the expenses.
The change of incomes and expenses shows a clear correlation, so the growth of
incomes is followed by the growth of the expenses and vice versa, the decrease of
incomes by decrease of expenses. At the same time, there is a significant group of
organisations that indicate increase or stability of the expenses beside the decrease
of incomes.
Table 41
The change of incomes and expenses of the organisations in the previous four years
Incomes?
(%)
Expenses?
(%)
Significant decrease
Decrease
8
20
2
6
Small decrease
12
4
No changes
29
29
Small increase
Increase
46
51
48
64
Significant increase
5
16
The incomes and expenses unambiguously changed in County Békés for the last
4 years; in both cases, the higher proportion of the organisations is affected by the
growth.
The unchangeability of the salary situation is a characteristic of the villages.
The decrease of the incomes affected mostly the organisations from the county
seats, on the other hand the latter and the organisations from towns reported the
increase of the expenses. The increase of incomes characterises foundations and the
increase of expenses is the characteristic of associations.
52
Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
5.2 Sources of income, sponsors
The main source of income of one third of the organisations, is membership fee
and membership support, but the role of donations (20%) and local government
support (16%) is significant. The membership fee and the membership support, as
main sources of income, are mainly characteristic of national organisations, while
the local government support and the donations are characteristics of local organi-
sations. In County Csongrád the importance of membership fees, membership sup-
port is lower than the support of foundations and incomes from donations. In
County Bács-Kiskun, the organisations that are supported by the local govern-
ment’s donation are overrepresented. In County Békés and in other categories the
proportion follows the regional distribution.
Sources of income are increasing from foundation support–grant support, na-
tional support, business – renting – investing and the 1% from income taxes is
growing with larger settlements. Membership fee and membership support are
mainly the characteristics of towns, where the role of the donation is less impor-
tant. The main incomes of the associations are the membership fees, membership
and local government support. The foundations are overrepresented in relation to
support and the 1% from income taxes. In other cases, the distribution is rather
similar.
Compared to the national data of 1994, it is evident that the significance of the
incomes that come from private support and the basic activity now are higher in the
examined region. Income from the management function was one tenth of the na-
tional average in 1994.
Table 42
The main sources of income?
Type of the source of income
In South Great Plain
In state
(%) (1999)
(%) (1994)
State support (support of the government)
20
20.6
Individual support (donations; support of the
31 21.2
foundations; 1% of the income taxes)
Incomes from the basic activity (membership fee,
32 23.5
membership supports)
Incomes from the management (business, renting,
3
30.0
investment)
Other income
13
4.7
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
35% of the examined organisations (300 organisations) possess some kind of
regular donors. There are 3351 donors in the sample who help the organisations
from the South Great Plain, which means 11 donors per organisation. 65% of the
organisations have no donators. Supported organisations are first of all local, their
main source of income is donation and their income in most cases exceeds 120
thousand forints and they are overrepresented in the group where the annual in-
come is over 700 thousand forints.
Among the organisations with a contract of the support foundations are overrep-
resented which means they are numerous in a group of organisations with less than
10 members and less than 5 workers.
Among the organisations support is a characteristic of those who have more
than 17 workers. At the same time, growth of the members is not in balance with
the growth of support. Among the supported organisations, those with 30–78
members are overrepresented, while for those over 80 members this is not the case.
Table 43
Does the organisation have regular support?
The number and
The number of the
The average number of
proportion of the
supporters (pcs)
the supporters per one
supported organisations
supported organisation
pcs (%)
(pcs)
Private entity
194 (22)
2088
11
Small and medium size
189
(22)
953
5
entrepreneur
Big entrepreneur
76
(9)
226
3
Multinational company
51
(6)
84
2
Total
300*
(35) 3351 11
* This number is not provided from simple summing up but we filtered out overlapping so we took
into account organisations only once although it had several supporters.
Organisations from County Csongrád possess more supporters than organisa-
tions belonging to the other two counties. Regarding details, there is a small differ-
ence: the big entrepreneurial supporters of the organizations in County Békés are
overrepresented. In every other case, those from County Csongrád are in a leading
position. Organisations that function in various types of settlements possess private
and small business supporters in similar proportion. In the case of towns the pro-
portions are a little bit higher. Big entrepreneurs mainly support civil organisations
in county towns and towns while the multinational companies are overrepresented
in county seats. Support is the characteristic of foundations.
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
5.3 Relations
10% of the organisations possess branches and 7% have or had before a supply
contract with local government and nearly the same percentage plans the same.
Organisations from County Bács-Kiskun had more branches while those from
Békés have less supply contracts. The proportion of organisations with branches
grows together with the settlement dimension. The associations mainly possess
branches. Supply contract becomes more characteristics as we progress lower in
the settlement hierarchy; associations and local organisations make the best of their
opportunity.
47% of the organisations have relations with other civil organisations. 13% are
occasional, 15% are regular relations, and 19% have both. The organisations estab-
lish relationships mainly within their own county. There is a significant relation-
ship between the civil organisations of the region and Central Hungarian, Northern
Great Hungarian Plain and Transdanubian regions. The organisations of three
counties of the region have proportional, occasional, and regular relationships
Organisations of County Békés and Csongrád are mainly connected with southern
and northern Transdanubian regions. In the case of Central Transdanubian, Central
Hungarian and Northern Great Hungarian Plain the numbers show a more balanced
picture, but County Békés has limitations. There is more of an advantage in the
case of relationships with the Northern Hungarian region.
The national relationships are more present in the case of the organisations of
towns and county seats; regular relations characterise towns first and the occasional
characterise towns and county seats. The county seats are overrepresented in the
relationships with regions: County Csongrád and Transdanubian, Central Hun-
garian and Northern Great Hungarian Plain regions. Associations have a higher
proportion of national and international relationships.
Memberships in the civil organisations that are established on the territorial,
geographical, functional and sectoral basis based on the numbers overlap each
other. 17% of the organisations are the members of one or another category and
from this, 13% participate in both kind of organisations. The dividing line appears
in the case of the organisations on the microregional or regional level. 13% of the
organisations are members of microregional and 12% of regional organizations. Of
these 5% participate on both levels in the work of various organisations. Among
organisations, that are the members of organisations carrying on territorial, geo-
graphical, and sectoral activities, organisations of County Csongrád are underrep-
resented. Among the applicants, those from County Békés take a similar position;
those who work in County Bács-Kiskun among the applicants are underrepre-
sented.
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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
Type of settlement also influences regional relationship of the organisations. In
all of the enumerated relational types mainly the villages are the members, while in
regional organisations among villages towns represent a significant proportion.
Claim of participation in the organisation on a geographical basis is mainly char-
acteristic of towns, while the establishment of the organisations on the territorial
basis mainly prefers county seats. Associations are mainly the members of this
kind of organisation and these want to establish the territorial organisation on the
geographical basis. Associations and foundations want to establish organisation on
the functional level in similar proportion. 36% of the organisations would establish
territorial, geographical relationships and 44% would establish functional relations
on the microregional and regional level.
16% of the organisations have foreign relationships, 10% with neighbouring
countries of the region, 4% with other neighbouring countries and 10% with for-
eign countries. The data regarding foreign relationships can be found in Table 44
Among three county constituents of the region, the distribution of foreign relation-
ships is balanced. County Bács-Kiskun is in the first place in the relationships with
non-neighbouring countries, while in Békés and Csongrád, there are more relation-
ships with the neighbouring countries of the region.
Table 44
Does the organisation have any international relations?
The number of
The number and
The number of the
international relations
proportion of the
relations per one
(pcs)
organisations with
organisation (with
international relations
international relation)
pcs (%)
(pcs)
With the neighbouring
190
90
(10)
2
country of the region
With other neighbouring
101
34
(4)
3
country
With other foreign
288
84
(10)
3
country
Total 579
140*
(16) 4
* This number is not provided from simple summing up but we filtered out overlapping so we took
into account organisations only once although it had several supporters.
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
6 The opinions of the organisations
6.1 The judgement of the role of civil sphere
Respondents were asked the question to what extent the development of territories
is the task of the civil sphere and to what extent of other participants Those who
answered considered that the main tasks of the civil sphere are environmental,
sport sponsorship and leisure, public life, interest representation, youth and cultural
work.
Table 45
Which are and which are not the tasks of the civil organisations?
Fields of Activity
the proportion of those
did not answer
who answered
(%)
(%)
Primary task of civil organisations
Organising actions for environmental
55 21
protection
Sponsorship 51
22
Expand sports and leisure possibilities
50
16
Supporting the tasks of public life, interest
48 22
representation
Development of programmes of quality for
46 21
youth and children
Expansion of cultural possibilities
44
21
Primary role of others
Establishment of work places
75
21
The increase of public security
73
20
Development of innovative economic
66 23
activities
Humanisation of health care
65
22
Development of the quality of education (eg.
65 22
distance learning)
Increase of social services
63
20
Implementation and planning of rural,
63 22
regional, and settlement development
Development of informational society (eg.
51 22
local media)
Increased protection of human rights,
44 22
religious, and ethnic minorities
Development of professional workshops
42
22
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
Regarding the division of responsibilities among civil organisations and other
participants, the organisations of the three counties have the same opinion and
there is no significant difference in opinion between the two organisational forms.
Examining the types of settlement there is only in one case a different opinion: the
organisations of county seats in most cases think that the protection of human
rights and national and ethnic groups is a task of civil organisations, while the
organisations of towns and villages think that it is a task of other participants.
6.2 The knowledge of territorial development
Most of the interviewed people did not know the procedure of programming
regional development and its institutional system, the priority of the development
concept and the important elements of strategic programmes of the South
Hungarian Great Plain. The proportion of those who were informed is between 5
and 9%. Those who had some information are between 28 and 99 percent. The best
known element is the institutional system of regionial development (48% of the
interviewed is partly or totally familiar with it).
Table 46
Are you familiar with the…of South Plain?
Totally familiar
Partly familiar
Not familiar
(%)
(%)
(%)
Institutional system?
9
39
52
Procedure of the programming for
5 31 64
regional development?
Important elements of strategic
5 30 65
programme?
Priorities of the development concept?
6
28
66
The familiarity with regional development is least characteristic for County
Bács-Kiskun. County Békés and Csongrád are comparable in their better
information on regional issues. County Csongrád organizations are better informed
on institutions. Settlement types have a good comparable knowledge of the
regional development process. Their familiarity is growing proportionally with the
growth of the settlement type. This knowledge is becoming widespread in most
settlements. Among those who are totally familiar with the priorities there is no
territorial deviation, but among those who are partially familiar, the organisations
of the county seats are the leaders. The knowledge of enumerated elements of
regional development is more typical for foundations than for the associations.
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
6.3 The judgement of the regional formation and development
About regional formations, the opinions of the organisations are mostly positive:
the majority sees lots of opportunities in it, but agrees that this is a compulsive
obligation for the county. On the other hand, they reject it as only a formal solution
and they do not see it as an additional burden.
Table 47
What do you think about the formation of the region?
The average of the transformed values
on the scale of hundred
A new opportunity with lots of positive advantages
65
Practice for EU conformity whose establishment is a
57
pressure-like obligation
The best solution for the liquidation of the present,
52
underdeveloped administrative structure
A formal solution which does not fit in the present
42
developmental and administrative structure
Unnecessary burden for everyone
31
Values above 50 mean acceptance and those under 50 refusal.
Organisations from County Csongrád claim that the establishment of regions is
the best solution for the liquidation of the undeveloped administrative structure.
The suggestion for the regional centre is mainly Szeged, 42% enlisted this town,
23% Kecskemét, 11% Békéscsaba, and 24% other settlements. Among those who
recommended Szeged there are organisations belonging to other counties which is
not so in the case of the other two county towns. The organisations mainly sup-
ported their own county seats but there is a significant difference in relation with
the proportion of those who did not suggest county seats. In County Békés 57% did
not recommend Békéscsaba, in Bács-Kiskun 33% did not suggest Kecskemét and
in Csongrád 16% did not recommend Szeged. The proportion of those who did not
answer is the highest in County Bács-Kiskun.
Organisations from the sample are not very “enthusiastic” about regional devel-
opment. There are some neutral answers regarding the effects of regional develop-
ment on their organisation. While the organisations from County Bács-Kiskun have
in all three cases11 a neutral standpoint, the organisations from County Békés hope
that this is the way for an easier approach to funding. Regional development or-
11 The possible answers are the following: ideas about regional development 1 – more
opportunities, 2 source access, 3 – help work of the organisation.
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
ganisations of County Csongrád have the most significant expectations. They in-
clude such expectations as an easier approach to funding, new and expanded re-
gional funds and a clear application system. There is a significant expectation re-
garding the development of regional thinking and action.
Organisations evaluate positively two thirds of the human strategic programmes
of the Southern Hungarian Great Plain. Regarding the programme organisation
they agreed with the support of the civil organisations and help of the local com-
munity. Two programmes regarding regions of scattered farms and the necessity of
distance work should be taken as a neutral position. Disagreement was noticed only
in the case of health development.
6.4 Future
Civil organisations of County Csongrád have the highest confidence in future
perspectives. There is a clear correlation between the responses and the geographi-
cal position of the headquarters of the organization. Organizations of this county
consider their county as one with bright prospects. At the same time Csongrád was
mentioned as a second place county by the organisations of County Békés and
Bács-Kiskun. The foundations are overrepresented among those who mentioned
County Csongrád, while the associations are overrepresented among those who
mentioned County Bács-Kiskun and Békés. Compared to the other regions, 60% of
the organisations consider the position of civil organisations within the region as
similar, 23%claim it is worse, 4% claim it is better, and 12% did not answer. The
answers were influenced by the geographical position of the organisations. The
majority of the organisations from County Békés consider that the position of the
civil organisation is worse than in the other two counties. Compared to the other
regions, the position of civil organisations of the regions is seen worse through the
lens of the organisations of towns.
The associations are a little bit more satisfied with the position of the civil or-
ganisations in the region than the foundations are. This is partly explainable by the
fact that the foundations did not express their opinion in this question. Regarding
the future perspective of the civil organisations, it is moderately optimistic. There
is a common opinion that their development depends on their present situation, but
they deny that their operation becomes impossible. Their standpoint regarding the
other possibilities is neutral. On the basis of the statements, during the analysis we
distinguished three positions: optimistic, two pessimistic and one realistic answer.
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
Table 48
Judgements about the future perspective of the civil organisations in the region?
The average of the values Pessimistic, optimistic, or
transformed to the scale of
realistic statement
hundred
Development depending on their present
61 realistic
situation
Their situation and the opportunities would
52 moderately
optimistic
be more balanced in the region
Decrease in subordinated position of the
51 moderately
optimistic
civil society
Their position will improve by all means
50
strongly optimistic
There will be no significant change in their
49 moderately
pessimistic
position
There will be continuous difficulties in
30 strongly
pessimistic
their operation
# Values above 50 mean acceptance and those under 50 refusal.
We can conclude that the answers of the organisations of County Csongrád are
more optimistic, while County Békés and Bács-Kiskun can be characterized as
sceptical (regarding their number there is a higher proportion of those who did not
agree). Those who did not agree with moderately optimistic answers belong in
most cases to County Békés. Those who agreed with moderately pessimistic
answers are mainly the organisations from County Bács-Kiskun. In the case of
strongly pessimistic answers, those who agreed were mostly from County Békés
and this is the case of the realistic answers too.
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
III Summary
Regional consciousness is one of the possible levels of regional identity. The ele-
ments of identity are formed as concentric circles: from the personal self there is an
extension to the family, relatives, domicile, national, European, cosmopolitan, tran-
scendental elements, etc. This chain of identity, which organically, from the time of
socialisation moves upwards, makes itself stronger and builds itself from the inside
to the outside. These levels react on each other and have relatively complicated
mutual relationships, they can be separated only from the methodological aspect.
Therefore, this research dealt only with one part of the chain of identity.
Most of the respondents have heard about the relatively developed organisations
of the Southern Great Hungarian Plain, (with the microregions they are less famil-
iar) and know which counties belong to it. For the citizens, the region is preferred
as a geographical rather than socio-historical entity. Smaller territorial integration
(the microregions) rather possesses traits that refer to the features of the human
community (tradition, interest). The most important elements of the attachment to
the region, besides the beauty of the physical environment and local patriotism, are
the family and friendships, while the opportunities for spending spare free time and
other elements of public interest are less specific.
Connection to the regions, county, and microregion are structurally similar
while in connection with the residential environment, the concrete living conditions
are preferred. The role of settlement is the most important in human life in the ag-
gregate evaluation because the domicile took the most positive evaluation to the
question “how and where do you feel yourself comfortable ?….”.
Regarding the essential criteria of local patriotism as a possible category of the
activity and (self) organisation of local community, there are three cases (cultural,
economic, and social) in which the definition of the region rather differs and is
differentiated by the inhabitants of the region. The majority excludes political ac-
tivity and behaviour from the explanation of the term. Those who lived in the re-
gion stated domestic localpatriotism rather strong than weak.
In what follows, instead of a mechanical summary of the studies, we will com-
pare the results of the researches. The opinions about the role of civil organizations
is partly differentiated according to the opinions given by the inhabitants and or-
ganisations.
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
Table 49
Which are the tasks of the civil organisations? (0 –not at all, 100 –totally is)
The opinion of the
The opinion of the civil
civilians
organisations
Correction of the possibilities for sport and
70 55
leisure
Expansion of the programs for children and
70 53
youth
Organisation of environmental actions
68
59
Expansion of cultural possibilities
64
51
The expansion of the fields of social care
54
34
Development of informational societies
54 43
(e.g. local media)
Improvement of the quality of education
52
31
Improvement of public security
52
22
Correction of the quality of medical care
44
32
Values above 50 were indicated by dark.
The opinion of the civil organisations is more differentiated, the dispersion
among two values is bigger, while the dispersion in the case of the inhabitants’
answers is 26. The opinion of the inhabitants is without exceptions positive – so
they rather think that the enumerated tasks belong to the civil organisations, while
the civil organisations shift the responsibility, they regard it as not their function
and the positive values are also not so high and are not so unanimous as in the case
of the inhabitants.
Concerning the judgement of the goals of regional development, the difference
in opinion of the inhabitants and organizations is very striking. In the following
table, we have marked those fields where the difference is over 9 points.
The necessity of health development was relatively strongly supported by the
inhabitants, while the civil organisations supported other goals. The development
of local communities, support of civil organisations and the identity preservation of
Hungarians abroad and domestic minorities were considered to be more important
by the organizations themselves, than the inhabitants.
The question about the distribution of 100 forints gives a reflection of the
inhabitants’ support of civil organizations. Civil organisations in all three parts of
the territories – settlement, county, and region – gained two forints, which means
2% of the distributing resources. On the settlement and county level, only ethnic
minorities are supported less by the inhabitants than civil organizations, while on
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
Table 50
The evaluation of the goals of the development of the region
(0 – very bad, no goal coincidence, 100 – very good, coincident goals)
The opinions of the
The opinions of the civil
population
organisations
Supporting employment of young
65 63
qualified workers
Supporting health developing
65 27
initiatives
Forming regional human resource
63 62
information system
Training experts on adult education
63 60
Supporting local, micro regional,
60 66
regional media (newspapers, tv,
Internet homepages)
Training the intellectuals, economic
60 64
and political management on tasks of
accession to the EU
DIssemination of studies regarding
60 65
European Union
Supporting local organisations
55 69
Supplying the scattered farms with
54 55
informational resources
Easing the social problems of the
53 55
scattered farms applying farm warden
“Multilingual region” program
53 57
Supporting civil organisations, regional
51 70
organisations
Program for Hungarian minorities
51 60
abroad and ethnic minorities in
Hungary preserving the different ethnic
groups’ language, cultural identity,
relationship with their home country
Encouraging distance work in the
50 55
region
the regional level organisations are in the last place. About the support of the latter,
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Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
one of the organisational surveys shows a more subtle picture. 35% of the partici-
pant organizations of the survey have their own sponsors. If we check hypotheti-
cally, we can conlude that 15–17,000 private persons and 9–11,000 enterprises
support the civil organisations of the Southern Hungarian Great Plain. This means
1% of the inhabitants in the region and 10–12% of the enterprises12 of the Southern
Hungarian Great Plain.
74% of the surveyed organisations were founded by private persons. The de-
termination of the average number of organisational members is a little bit prob-
lematic, probably because of false data reports, inflated interpretation of the or-
ganisational membership or simply because there is a substantial solidarity with
civil organizations in the region. Nevertheless, the most careful calculations show
that 8–10% of the population is in some way connected with one or more civil
organisations.
What kind of role have civil organisations in the formation of public life in ter-
ritorial units like settlements, county, region? The determination of this by the
population is more or less unambigous: the most insignificant role the interviewed
attributed to themselves and besides civil organisations only the Church was left
behind in the rating. On the local level, the influence of civil organisations is com-
parable to the influence of parliament and government (similarly weak). Civil or-
ganizations could not reach 50 points, which is the minimal score in the case of an
influental role. 37% of interviewed organisations claim that they are prepared to
influence local and regional decisions. 52% would rather participate in the estab-
lishment of plans on the regional level and 29% specified a person who may have a
role in regional planning processes. 7% of the organisations have a contract with
the local government and the same percentage is planning it.
All these factors suggest dilemmas that should be examined. Every analyst
would agree about the importance of the social role of civil organisations and their
legitimate relations to the local population.
We should assume that the civil organisations in most cases are able to repre-
sent the population. The role of the civil organisations is to formulate local initia-
tives and to represent popular interests with the authorities. They can therefore be
considered the instruments of the democratic process.
The breadth and heterogeneity of the social environment shows the advanced
development of civil society which legitimizes it. Legitimisation can manifest itself
in the coincidence of opinions, goals, and values of the population and organisa-
tions. The examinable units of civil society are civil organizations
12 In 1998 in South Hungarian Great Plain there were 93.120 functioning businesses. (Source:
Hungarian Statistical Yearbook 1998. KSH, Budapest, 1999).
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Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
In the course of the research, we identified several contradictory issues, which
can hopefully be resolved by future research. The contradictions can be summa-
rised as follows:
• The judgement of the tasks of civil organizations is not well defined. This is
explainable with the deficiency of the organisations trying to find their posi-
tion, and the doubts of society concerning their role. The population survey
regarding the civil organizations demonstrates these doubts.
• There is a common opinion among people that a significant part of commu-
nity tasks should be handled by civil organizations. However, sources would
not be provided to them. The low degree of support for the organisations is
confirmed by two responses (answers on the question about “100 forints”
and the evaluation of regional goals of development).
• Civil organisatio.e organisations than for the inhabitants.There are probably
several reasons for this.
LACK OF ACTIVITY FIELD AND COOPERATION
• For the organisations, there is no activity field in the local and regional soci-
ety to develop their function. The organisations are not able to effectively
address functional opportunities.
• For appropriate functions, organisations do not have any support in local and
regional society. This probably comes from the insufficiency of cooperative
ability. Possible partners would be: inhabitant groups, other civil organisa-
tions, institutions of local government, economical organisations, etc.
LACK OF PUBLICITY AND COMMUNICATION
• The organisations do not provide publicity for themselves and for their ac-
tivities, their functional tasks are left latent.
• There is no proper communication between inhabitants and organisations.
• There is no appropriate management of the civil organisations among the in-
habitants.
• The lack of knowledge, culture, and information could have been the reason
for the inhabitants not to support civil organizations, as well as negative ex-
perience or prejudices.
Explanations of the divergencies relating to civil organizations are due to sev-
eral factors, but our research does not explore this particular problem. We have
picked out two issues where the handling of problems is not addressed well. Prob-
lems of communication and legitimation have to be handled together. As we men-
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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
tioned above, social legitimation of the organisations makes possible the develop-
ment of civil society. The social use of the organisations can be reinforced by two
processes:
• Firstly the definition of the functions in which the differences of the organi-
sations would be articulated. This would make attractive the organisational
life for those who did not yet experience autonomous and community ac-
tions. For the effectiveness of these actions social space and the ability of co-
operation are necessary.
• Secondly, publicity is unavoidable, publicity through which organisations,
inhabitants and other social participants could communicate. It is important
to emphasise that the simple handling of the communications problems does
not create a social base, does not solve the problems of legitimacy, but the
developed, social base provides publicity on a high level.
Probably not every member of society participates in active civil organizations.
Nevertheless, we should assume that every person has to be the creator of his/her
own life and to be able to solve problems together with others Local and regional
communities are the institutions which evoke the feelings of comfortableness in
people. If one knows what is his/her place in a wider and narrower world, can ar-
ticulate common goals, and knows how to achieve them, then he/she possesses
IDENTITY.
The elements of identity are very complex. There are inborn samples of identity
and throughout life, we can choose another one. We can fight against or live with
the inborn samples. Sometimes we are not aware of these identities, thereby cre-
ating difficult conflicts with our environment.
The identities chosen provide the opportunity for us to create an identity com-
munity, which reflects the growth of our personality, can offer commitments and
sustains our social being. The identity chains connecting generations can regener-
ate traditional identities, for example territorial linkages, and can strengthen the
cohesion of larger human communities.
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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
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Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
Appendix I
The data collecting of the research was in three counties (Bács-Kiskun, Békés,
Csongrád) of the Southern Hungarian Great Plain region, in October 1999 with the
index of N=1, 200 adults13. Because of the more precise social structure of the so-
ciety the smaller torsion regarding data collecting (Leslie Kish-like “random
walking”) were eliminated by the use of data of Central Office for Statistics and by
appropriate mathematical procedure, so-called…
During the data processing, we took into consideration aspects that helped the
explanation of results. The data collecting was based on the subindexes that repre-
sent the adult population of three counties of the region and this is the reason why
we took into account the similarities and differences between counties. In the case,
we investigate, the dispersion within the changeable county matrices with low
measuring level (nominal, ordinary) then in every case, we used the chi-probation.
In order to the accepted social practice, when we analyse the independence of two
variables we took into account *p ≤ 0, 05, and **p ≤ 0, 001 levels of significance
in tables or in question indicated with * or **.
In the case, we analyse the relation of variables of the county in the categorical
measuring level and of variables internal measuring level, we used the dispersion
analysis (ANOVA). The levels of F probation indicated the significance of the
difference between counties. Similar to the indication of chi-quadrant: *p ≤ 0, 05,
or **p ≤ 0, 001 in the case we used * or ** indication.
There are lot of variables in the questionnaire so in the data processing proce-
dure we used statistical analysis (main component analysis, cluster analysis, linear
regression) to help in interpretation (during the main component analysis only
those score averages were taken into account which were under or below of 0, 1
regarding the categories of examined variable. The order (sequence) within the
main components was introduced on the basis of the factors of the participating
variables indicating the explained variance. In the case of regression, analysis the
stepwise method was used the criteria in every ease way p ≤ 0, 05 significance
level. In regression models-in most cases by the help of main component analysis-
the most important types of opinion of the search were named as …and various
13 The number of the elements of samples and settlements in the samples: County Bács-Kiskun
(470): Baja, Csátalja, Nemesnádudvar, Kecskemét, Orgovány, Ágasegyháza, Kiskunfélegyhaza,
Bugac, Pálmonostora, Gátér, Kiskunmajsa, Szank, Csólyospálos, Kompoc. County Csongrád (380):
Hódmezővásárhely, Székkutas, Martely, Kistelek, Balástya, Csengele, Szeged, Szatymaz, Forráskút,
Szentes, Nagymagocs, Derekegyháza, Eperjes. County Békés (350): Békéscsaba, Mezőberény,
Szabadkígyós, Telekgerendás, Csárdaszállás, Orosháza, Csanádapáca, Pusztaföldvár, Kardoskút,
Szarvas, Csabacsud, Örménykút.
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
socio-cultural elements14 as explanatory variables. In order to describe the similari-
ties and differences of three counties in sub indexes every model was separately
run out and the results were examined.
Transformations of the variables to a scale of hundred also helped the easier
data interpretation. The transformed variable would be 100 or 0 in the case that
every answerer would gain the maximal or minimal value of the original variable.
On this scale, values fewer than 50 points are treated as negative (unsatisfaction)
and over 50 points mainly positive answers (satisfaction).
The Reference Tables
Table I
Have you heard about the Southern Great Hungarian Plain region? Have you heard about
the micro region?
(The proportion of “yes” answers, in percentage)
Region
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
About the Southern Great Hungarian Plain*
61
56
61
68
About
the
micro
region*
41 36 45 43
Table II
From which counties is made up of the Southern Great Hungarian Plain region?
(Mentioning proportions in percentage in the case of those who heard about the region)
Region
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Bács-Kiskun, Békés and Csongrád county
68
56
72
78
Incorrect answer
9
10
14
4
Did
not
answer
23 34 14 18
14 Because of the conditions of linear regression the independent variabkles from the original
socio-cultural variables-except the age factor-wre transformed in to following: gender (1: male,
0: female), age (year of birth), settlement type (1: town, 0: village), qualification–1 (1:
professional, 0: other), qualification–2 (1: graduation, 0: other), qualification–3 (1: diploma, 0:
other), marital status–1 (1: married, 0: other), marital status–2 (1: single, 0: other), job activity
(1: active, 0: other), the time since you live on your place-l (1: from my birth, 0: other),
religion–1(1: religious group, 0: other), religion–2 (1: ateist group, 0: other), denomination–1 (1:
chatolic, 0: other), denomination–2 (1: calvinist, 0: other), denomination–3 (1: lutheran, 0:
other).
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
Table III
How many micro regions can you enumerate?**
(Mentioning proportions in percentage in the case of those who heard about the
micro region)
Region
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
One
correct
answer
27 25 30 27
Two correct answers
14
6
22
14
Three or more correct answers
18
16
18
18
I do not know
42
54
30
42
Table IV
To what extent the following things attach you to the region?
(scale to hundred, 0: not at all, 100: totally)
Region
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Residence liking to a greater extent **
55
45
56
60
Beautiful
environment**
54 49 49 64
Relatives**
51 42 55 56
Other (friends, acquaintance, colleagues,
50 42 50 57
neighbours) relations**
Good
traffic
circumstances**
46 41 43 54
The development of the settlement**
46
40
43
53
Intellectual
binding**
46 37 43 53
Favourable
living
conditions*
40 38 36 44
Adequate job opportunity, good job**
38
36
32
46
Marriage*
38 33 40 43
Care for children’s future**
36
36
29
42
State
of
health*
36 34 31 43
Adequate cultural, entertaining, and
35 35 26 42
recreational possibilities**
The lack of money for moving away
31
30
30
34
Adequate price of allotments and real
27 26 23 31
estates*
73
Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
Table V
At present to what extent, the following things attach you to the region?
(Scale to hundred, 0: not at all, 100: totally)
Region
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Relatives**
60 53 63 59
Residence liking to a greater extent**
60
55
60
63
Other (friends, acquaintance, colleagues,
57 51 57 62
neighbours) relations**
Beautiful
environment*
57 55 50 63
Good
traffic
circumstances**
50 50 44 55
The development of the settlement**
49
44
44
56
Intellectual
binding*
49 43 43 57
Favourable living conditions*
42
42
38
47
Adequate job opportunity, good job**
41
43
33
51
Marriage
41 37 43 42
Care for children’s future*
41
40
33
47
Health
condition**
40 43 31 45
Adequate cultural, entertaining, and recreational
39 38 27 48
possibilities****
The lack of money for moving away*
35
35
31
37
Adequate price of allotments and real estates*
28
28
25
32
Table VI
At present to what extent, the following things attach you to the region?
(Scale to hundred, 0: not at all, 100: totally)
Region
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Other (friends, acquaintance, colleagues,
67 60 68 69
neighbours) relations
Relatives
65 58 71 64
Residence liking to a greater extent*
65
61
65
68
Beautiful
environment**
58 56 52 63
Intellectual
binding**
50 44 46 56
The development of the settlement*
49
47
45
54
Good
traffic
circumstances*
48 49 44 51
Favourable living conditions*
44
45
41
47
Marriage
44 42 47 42
Adequate job opportunity, good job**
43
44
36
51
Care for children’s future
42
43
38
44
Health
condition**
39 43 32 44
Adequate cultural, entertaining, and recreational
35 36 27 41
possibilities**
The lack of money for moving away
35
36
32
37
Adequate price of allotments and real estates*
29
28
25
32
74
Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
Table VII
At present to what extent, the following things attach you to the region?
(Scale to hundred, 0: not at all, 100: totally)
Region
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Other (friends, acquaintance, colleagues,
83 83 83 84
neighbours) relations
Relatives
77 77 79 76
Residence liking to a greater extent*
77
78
73
79
Beautiful
environment**
66 71 55 71
Intellectual
binding**
58 62 57 58
The development of the settlement*
58
62
50
64
Good
traffic
circumstances*
57 61 47 62
Favourable living conditions*
54
62
45
56
Adequate job opportunity, good job**
52
55
40
61
Favourable living conditions**
52
59
46
53
Health
condition**
50 56 43 52
Care for children’s future*
49
53
43
53
The lack of money for moving away
40
43
34
44
Adequate cultural, entertaining, and
38 46 25 45
recreational possibilities**
Adequate price of allotments and real estates*
36
36
31
39
Table VIII
In your opinion what is the extent of localpatriotism in your settlement?**
(Scale of hundred, 0: low, 100: high)
Region Bács-Kiskun Békés Csongrád
65 69 59 67
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
Table IX
If you had to move away where would you go?**
(column-percentage)
Region
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Transdanubian
settlement
34 22 49 29
In one of the cities in Southern Great
20 16 22 25
Hungarian Plain
In one of the county seats in Southern Great
14 21 14 7
Hungarian Plain
In the capital
10
7
6
17
In foreign countries
10
13
3
11
In other settlement of the Great Hungarian
5 5 6 4
Plain
In some village in Southern Great Hungarian
4 7 0 6
Plain
I do not know
4
10
1
1
Table X
In your opinion which county of the region is standing in the first place in Southern Great
Hungarian Plain?
(column-percentage)
Infrastructural supply of the settlements
Region Bács-Kiskun
Békés Csongrád
(eg.road system, sewerage installation)**
Bács-Kiskun
county
31 42 26 20
Békés
county
4 2 9 3
Csongrád
county
40 19 40 65
Social supply and care in settlements**
Region
Bács-Kiskun
Békés Csongrád
Bács-Kiskun
county
20 35 12 10
Békés
county
5 2 9 5
Csongrád
county
43 20 50 67
Innovational capacities and other abilities,
Region Bács-Kiskun
Békés Csongrád
education**
Bács-Kiskun
county
18 32 6 12
Békés
county
4 2 9 2
Csongrád
county
55 34 61 75
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
The business allurements**
Region Bács-Kiskun
Békés Csongrád
Bács-Kiskun
county
29 44 22 18
Békés
county
3 1 8 3
Csongrád
county
36 16 40 58
Appendix II
1 Type
of
settlement
Type of settlement/County
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Total
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
County
town
14 19 38 23
Town
46 52 33 44
Village
40 29 29 33
2
The year of the foundation of the organization
The year of the foundation of the
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Total
organization/County
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Before
1990
23 28 19 24
Between1991 and 1995
41
38
41
40
After
1996
35 34 39 36
The year of the foundation of the
County town
Town
Village
Total
organization/Type of settlement
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Before
1990
18 26 24 24
Between 1991 and 1995
46
40
37
40
After
1996
36 34 39 36
3
Who were the founders of the roganization?
Who were the founders of the organization?
%
Civilians
74
Local government
16
Economic organizations
9
Institutions
8
Other civil organizations
4
Other
5
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Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
Who were the founders of the
County town
Town
Village
Total
organization?/Type of settlement
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Civilians
70 74 78 74
Local
government
6 16 22 16
Economic
organizations
13 9 8 9
Institutions
12 8 6 8
Other
civil
organizations
7 4 1 4
Other
6 6 2 5
4
What is the type of the organization?
What is the type of the organization?
%
Association
63
Foundation
26
Public fund
9
Other
2
Type of the organization (merged
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Total
index numbers)/County
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Association
69 63 58 64
Foundation
31 37 42 36
5
The number of the members of the organization?
The year of foundation/The Less than 10
10–29
30–78
More than 80
Total
number of members
members
members
members
members
(column %)
(column %) (column %) (column %) (column %)
Before 1990
8
20
35
45
24
Between 1991 and 1995
50
32
37
34
40
After 1996
41
48
28
21
36
Type of settlement/The
Less than 10
10–29
30–78
More than 80
Total
number of members
members
members
members
members
(column %)
(column %) (column %) (column %) (column %)
County
town
28 19 21 20 23
Town
43 37 42 54 44
Village
29 44 37 26 33
The number of members/County
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Total
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Less than 10
31
40
43
37
10–29
25 20 21 22
30–78
22 20 17 20
More than 80
22
20
20
20
78
Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
6
The character of the organization?
The character of the organization?
%
Local
66
Agglomerational 1
Micro regional/regional
9
County
7
Branch of the county organization
2
Regional
4
Branch of the regional organization
–
National
4
Branch of the national organization
4
International
–
Branch of the international organization
1
Other
2
The main goal of the
County town
Other town
Village
Total
organisationt?/Type of settlement
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Local
46 69 83 68
Microregional
5 16 7 10
County
25 3 5 9
Regional,
national
24 11 6 12
7
To which from the following categories, belongs your organisation?
The organization…
%
For public use
45
Extremely for public use
6
For public use under the process of judgement
5
Not for public use
44
The public use of the organisation
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Total
(merged index)/County
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
For
public
use
51 56 62 56
Not for public use
49
44
38
44
The public use of the organisation
County seat
Other town
Village
Total
(merged index)/Type of settlement
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
For
public
use
62 55 53 56
Not for public use
38
45
47
44
79
Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
8
The number of employees in the organisation
The number of
Regularly, total
Occasionally, total
Total
employees (head) head organisa- head/or-
head organisa- head/or-
head organisa- head/or-
and the number
tion (%) ganisation
tion (%) ganisation
tion
ganisation
of the organisa-
tion (heads, %)?
Volunteer 4912
556
(64)
9
9077 542 (62)
17
13989 707 (81)
20
Salaried employee
620 142 (16)
4
166 45 (5)
4
786 161 (18)
5
Other 904
62
(7)
14
488 41 (5)
12
1392 83 (9)
17
Total 6436
(655) 75
10
9731 (583) (67)
17
16167 (808) (93)
20
The number of employees in the
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Total
organisation/County
(%)
(%)
(%)
(%)
Less than 5
14
12
12
38
Between 6 and 16
11
10
9
31
More than 17
11
10
10
32
Total 37
32
32
100
The number of employees in the
County seat
Other town
Village
Total
organisation/Type of settlement
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Less than 5
40
36
38
38
Between 6 and 16
31
33
27
31
More than 17
29
31
35
32
In the organisation…
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Total
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Work
92 93 94 93
Salaried
employees
25 24 24 25
Volunteers
80 82 87 83
Regular
employees
72 79 77 76
Occasional
employees
68 67 69 68
In the organisation…
County town
Other town
Village
Total
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Work
94 93 93 93
Salaried
employees
35 25 16 25
Volunteers
79 83 86 83
Regular
employees
79 79 70 76
Occasional
employees
66 69 68 68
80
Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
9
Indicate the main function of the organisation!
What is the main function of the
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Total
organisation?/County
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Health
care
5 5 11 7
Social
care
6 10 7 7
Culture
17 15 14 15
Education
7 13 14 11
Children
and
youth
4 6 7 6
Sport
and
leisure
30 27 24 27
Professional
order
institutions
3 2 3 3
Public life, safeguard of interest
5
5
4
4
Territorial and settlement
development
4 3 5 4
Other
18 14 12 15
What is the main function of the
County seat
Other town
Village
Total
organisation?/Settlement type
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Health
care
12 7 2 7
Social
care
8 8 7 7
Culture
19 17 11 15
Education
13 12 9 11
Children
and
youth
7 4 7 6
Sport
and
leisure
23 28 29 27
Professional
order
organisations 5 1 3 3
Public life, safeguard of interest
2
6
3
4
Territorial and settlement
development
1 4 6 4
Other
9 12 23 15
10
Was there or is there any project of the organisation which encouraged the
development of local communities?
Do you have a project for the develop- Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Total
ment of local communities?/County
(%)
(%)
(%)
(%)
Yes
5 4 5 14
No but there is a plan
4
4
4
12
No
28 23 23 74
Total
37 32 32 100
81
Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
Do you have a project for the development of County seat Other town
Village
Total
local communities?/Settlement types
(column %) (column %) (column %) (column %)
Yes
20 13 10 14
No but there is a plan
9
15
11
12
No
71 72 78 74
11
Whether the organisation is appropriate for the influence of decisions on the
governmental and regional level?
Whether the organisation is appropriate for the influence of judgements on the
%
governmental and regional level?
No, this is not our goal
55
Yes if the decision makers establish the forums for the conversation and mutual work
20
Yes together with other organizations
10
Yes, by all means and we have a practice in it
6
No because we are not strong enough yet
6
No because we are not prepared for it
2
12
Which are the main fields that characterise the organisations?
Which are the main fields that characterise
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Total
the organisations?/County
(%)
(%)
(%)
(%)
Settlement
20 16 13 49
Institution
8 10 10 28
Microregion
6 4 4 14
County
3 5 4 12
State
2 2 4 9
Part
of
the
settlement
3 2 2 8
Region
2 2 4 8
Agglomeration
1 1 1 4
Other
countries
1 1 2 3
Other
1 1 - 2
Which are the main fields that characterise
County town Other town
Village
Total
the organisation?/Settlement type
(column %) (column %) (column %) (column %)
Settlement
19 48 70 49
Institution
37 27 24 28
Microregion
9 20 9 14
County
25 10 6 12
State
19 8 4 9
Part
of
the
settlement
8 9 7 8
Region
17 7 3 8
Agglomeration
3 4 3 4
Other
countries
6 2 2 3
Other
1 2 3 2
82
Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
13
What is the main goal of the organisation from the following?
What is the main goal of the
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Total
organisation?/County
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Self
supporting
12 11 13 12
Safeguard
of
interest
10 7 7 8
Organisation
7 10 6 8
Service
8 7 8 8
Support,
donation
25 26 28 26
Training, special development 7 8 13 9
Data
collecting
2 2 1 2
Other
28 30 24 27
What is the main goal of the
County town
Other town
Village
Total
organisation?/Settlement type
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Self
supporting
13 11 12 12
Safeguard of interest
6
10
7
8
Organisation
7 9 7 8
Service
6 9 7 8
Support,
donation
28 25 26 26
Training, special development 15 8 6 9
Data
collecting
- 3 2 2
Other
25 25 32 27
14
Based on the present conditions what is the primary goal of the organisation?
What is the primary goal of the
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Total
organisation?/County
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
To reduce decline and to narrow their
3 4 5 4
function
To keep the level of the present
24 21 19 22
functions
To develop and extend the
64 66 66 65
opportunities
To establish a new quality
7 3 6 5
developmental modell
No
answers
2 5 4 3
83
Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
15
Did the leaders or the members of the organisation participate in the training
programme regarding non-profit organisations?
Did they participate in the training regarding non-profit organisations?
%
No, for other reasons
34
Yes, occasionally
25
No we did not hear about such a thing
21
No, there is no need for it
11
Yes regularly
6
Yes continuously (school-like training)
2
16
Does the organisation possess …
Does the organisation possess…
Leaflet or any other
Web page on the
own material?
internet?
(%)
(%)
Existed, but no longer
3
–
Yes 19
5
Under construction
6
5
No 71
89
The organisation…
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Total
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Have a leaflet, other own material
23
30
34
29
Have a web page on the internet
7
10
17
11
The organisation…
County town
Other town
Village
Total
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
column %)
Have a leaflet, other own material
41
28
21
29
Have a web page on the internet
19
10
7
11
84
Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
17
In 1998 what was the budget of the organisation (total income)?
18
What were the total expenses in 1998?
19
What is the appropriate income per year to provide the task appropriatelly?
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Total
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Incomes
Low
33 35 30 33
Middle
32 34 34 33
High
34 31 36 34
Expenses
Low
35 34 30 33
Middle
31 34 34 33
High
34 33 37 34
Expectations
Low
37 31 31 33
Middle
28 38 34 33
High
35 31 35 34
County seat
Other town
Village
Total
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Incomes
Low
26 30 42 33
Middle
26 34 36 33
High
49 35 22 34
Expenses
Low
25 31 41 33
Middle
27 34 35 33
High
48 35 24 34
Expectations
Low
29 31 39 33
Middle
27 33 38 33
High
45 36 23 34
20
What was the most characteristic source of income from the following?
What was the most characteristic source of income?
%
Membership fee, membership support
32
Donations
20
Governmental support
16
Support from the Hungarian foundations
7
National support
4
1% of taxes
4
Venturing, renting, investment
3
Other
13
85
Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
What was the main source of
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Total
income?/County
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Membership fee, membership support
36
34
25
32
Support from the Hungarian
5 7 11 7
foundation
National
support
4 3 4 4
Governmental
support
19 16 13 16
Donations
17 19 25 20
Venturing,
renting,
investment 3 2 4 3
1%
of
taxes
2 5 6 4
Other
14 13 11 13
What was the main source of
County seat
Other town
Village
Total
income?/Settlement type
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Membership fee, membership support
29
34
31
32
Support from the Hungarian
12 7 5 7
foundations
National
support
5 4 3 4
Governmental
support
5 16 24 16
Donations
23 18 22 20
Venturing,
renting,
investment 6 4 1 3
1%
of
taxes
7 4 3 4
Other
14 13 12 13
100 100 100 100
21
Did the incomes of the organisation in previous 4 years increase or decrease?
22
Did the expenses of the organisation in previous 4 years increase or decrease?
In previous 4 years…/County
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Total
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Change of
Decreased 22 21 18 20
income
Without
change
32 24 30 29
Increased 46 55 52 51
Change of
Decreased 8 4 8 7
expenses
Without
change
32 25 31 29
Increased 60 71 61 63
86
Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
In previous 4 years…/Settlement type County town
Other town
Village
Total
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Change of
Decreased 24 20 19 20
income
Without
change
26 27 33 29
Increased 51 53 50 51
Change of
Decreased 6 8 6 7
expenses
Without
change
27 27 35 29
Increased 66 65 59 63
23
The number of handed and won competitions in previous 4 years?
The number of handed or
Did not… (%)
One is… (%)
Two or more are… (%)
winning competitions…
handed win handed won handed won
In
1996
77 81 10 10 13 9
In
1997
70 75 12 13 17 11
In
1998
60 69 18 17 22 14
In
1999
55 69 19 17 26 14
Total number of the organisations in the
Handed competitions
Winning competitions
previous 4 years…
(pcs, %)
(pcs, %)
In one year
175 (20)
161 (19)
In two years
110 (13)
92 (11)
In three years
81
(9)
61
(7)
In four years
138 (16)
97 (11)
Total 504
(58)
411
(47)
Did not hand/did not win
363 (42)
456 (53)
Competing organisations…/County
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Total
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
In 1996
Did
not
compete 79 77 75 77
Once 12
11
8
10
More than ones
9
12
17
13
In 1997
Did
not
compete 75 67 68 70
Once
11 14 13 12
More
than
once 14 19 19 17
In 1998
Did
not
compete 66 57 57 60
Once
18 18 17 18
More
than
once 16 25 26 22
In
1999
Did
not
compete 60 50 54 55
Once
18 21 18 19
More
than
once 22 28 27 26
In
for
years
52 63 61 58
87
Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
Winning competing
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Total
organisations…/County
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
In 1996
Did
not
win
83 81 78 81
Once
10 12 8 10
More than once
7
7
14
9
In 1997
Did
not
win
80 73 73 75
Once
11 16 13 13
More
than
once 9 11 14 11
In 1998
Did
not
win
75 68 63 69
Once
14 17 19 17
More
than
once 11 15 17 14
In 1999
Did
not
win
75 65 67 69
Once
14 20 18 17
More
than
once 11 15 15 14
In
four
years
41 51 51 47
Competing organisations…/Settlement County town
Other town
Village
Total
type
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
In 1996
Did
not
compete 72 74 84 77
Once
7 13 10 10
More than ones
21
13
6
13
In 1997
Did
not
compete 64 65 82 70
Once
11 15 10 12
More than once
25
20
8
17
In 1998
Did
not
compete 59 54 68 60
Once
9 22 18 18
More
than
once 32 24 13 22
In 1999
Did
not
compete 51 52 62 55
Once
16 22 18 19
More
than
once 34 26 20 26
In
for
years
64 62 50 58
Winning organisations…/Settlement
County town
Other town
Village
Total
type
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
In 1996
Did
not
win
77 79 85 81
Once
8 11 10 10
More than once
15
10
4
9
In 1997
Did
not
win
72 70 84 75
Once
10 16 11 13
More than once
18
13
4
11
In 1998
Did
not
win
65 66 76 69
Once
12 20 16 17
More than once
23
14
8
14
In 1999
Did
not
win
62 68 75 69
Once
19 16 17 17
More than once
19
15
8
14
In
four
years
52 50 41 47
88
Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
24
Is there any of the following in the previous four years to hand and win the
competition?
The following organisations
Organisations The number of Organisations The number of
announced the competitions…
(pcs, %)
the competitions
(pcs, %)
competitions
(pcs)
(pcs)
Soros
Foundation
126
(14) 357
80
(9) 177
Competition at ministries
116 (13)
341
93 (11)
213
Children and youth programs
73 (8)
183
59 (7)
113
Dem-Net
67
(8)
132
22 (3)
29
State Budget Support
52 (6)
106
37 (4)
65
Pro Renovanda Culturea
45 (5)
98
29 (3)
51
Phare
43 (5)
66
26 (3)
35
Artsitic and Free Culture Foundation
38 (4)
73
25 (3)
41
National Children and Youth Public 35 (4)
94
31 (4)
68
Foundation
Mobility Youth Service
25 (3)
64
18 (2)
45
National Employment Found
24 (3)
42
14 (2)
23
Autonomy
Foundation
19 (2)
29
9 (1)
10
Ökotárs
Foundation
18 (2)
41
10 (1)
22
Foreign Embassies Proposals
18 (2)
23
7 (1)
9
Attila József Social and Cultural
14 (2)
25
8 (1)
14
Foundations
EU Special Preparatory Fund
9
(1)
10 8
(1)
11
(Sapard)
Total
(296) (34)
1684
(242) (28)
926
The number of the organisations who handed and win
No…
To/from one
To/from two
the competitions to the previously mentioned organs
organ…
or more organs…
Handed (pcs, %)
571 (66)
140 (16)
156 (18)
Winning (pcs, %)
625 (72)
134 (15)
108 (12)
The percentage of the organizations who…
Generally
To emphasized organs
(%)
(%)
Did not compete
42
66
Did compete, but did not win
11
6
Did compete and win
47
28
89
Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
The organisation…
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Total
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Compete to an organ highlighted in the
32 39 32 34
competition
Win the competition from the
28 28 28 28
higlighted organ
Compete to more than one highlighted
14 19 21 18
organ
Win the competition from more
10 12 16 12
highlighted organs
The organisation…
County towns Other towns
Village
Total (column
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
%)
Handed the application to the
38 36 29 34
highlighted organization
Win the competition of the highlighted
31 28 26 28
organization
Handed
more
than
two
competition
25 18 13 18
Win the competition from several
20 12 9 12
highlighted organizations
25
Do they have a regular donator? (Those who support the organisations at least
three years with more than 10 000 Ft per year) What is the type?
Do the organisation have a donator?
No
Yes
One
Two or more
(%)
(%)
(%)
(%)
Private entity
78
22
6
16
Small and medium entrepreneur
78
22
6
16
Big
entrepreneur
91 9 4 5
Multinational
company
94 6 4 2
Total (%)
65
35
8
27
The organisation…
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Total
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Has
a
donator
30 32 43 35
With
the
private
entity
donation 20 20 27 22
With small and medium entrepreneur
20 20 26 22
donation
With the big entrepreneur donation
7
11
9
9
With the multinational supporter
2
7
9
6
90
Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
The organization
County town
Other town
Village
Total (column
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
%)
Has
a
donator
36 34 35 35
With
the
private
entity
donation 20 24 22 22
With
small
and
medium
entrepreneur
21 24 20 22
With the big entrepreneur donation
11
9
7
9
With the multinational supporter
9
5
4
6
26
Do they have official relationships with other civil organisations? (In the case the
organisation is the branch of the national organisation then the relationship
between the branches should be taken into account!) In which county, region?
Do the organisation have
The number
The number and
The number of relation-
home relationships?
of connec-
proportion of the
ships for one company
tions
organisations that have
(with the relationship)
(pcs)
relationships
(pcs)
(pcs, %)
Bács-Kiskun 1006
202
(23)
5
Csongrád 703
191
(22) 4
Békés 1000
171
(20)
6
Central Hungarian region
401
112 (13)
4
Northern Hungarian Great
220
71
(8)
3
Plain region
Southern Transdanubian
224
62
(7)
4
region
Northern Hungarian region
147
53 (6)
3
Western Transdanubian
99
48
(5)
2
region
Middle Transdanubian
107
46
(5)
2
region
Total 3907
406
(47)
10
Have a regular relationship
1824
291 (34)
6
Have an occasional
2083
277
(32)
8
relationship
91
Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
The organisation…
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Total
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Has the relationship with the civil
47 46 47 47
organisations at home
Has a regular relationship with other
33 35 33 34
civil organisations at home
Has an occasional relationship with
33 34 30 32
other civil organisations at home
Has a relationship with the civil
44 12 11 23
organisations of Bács-Kiskun county
Has a relationship with the civil
5 44 13 20
organisations of Békés county
Has a relationship with the civil
10 16 42 22
organisations from Csongrád county
Has a relationship with the civil
5 8 8 7
organisations from Transdanubia
Has a relationship with the western
2 7 8 5
Transdanubian civil organizations
Has a relationship with the Central
3 7 5 5
Transdanubian civil organizations
Has a relationship with the civil
10 15 14 13
organisations from Central Hungary
Has a relationship with the civil
4 10 5 6
organisations from Northern Hungary
Has a relationship with the civil
4 12 8 8
organisations of Northern Hungarian
Great Plain
The organisation…
County town
Other town
Village
Total
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Has a relationship with other civil
50 49 41 47
organisations at home
Has a regular relationship with other
33 38 28 34
civil organisations at home
Has an occasional relationship with
35 33 28 32
other civil organisations at home
Has relationship with the civil
24 26 20 23
organisations from Bács-Kiskun
county
Has a relationship with the civil
22 23 13 20
organisations of Békés county
Has a relationship with the civil
30 23 15 22
organisations from Csongrád county
Has a relationship with Transdanubian
13 7 3 7
civil organisations
92
Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
The organisation…
County town
Other town
Village
Total
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Has a relationship with the western
9 6 2 5
Transdanubian civil organizations
Has a relationship with the Central
8 6 2 5
Transdanubian civil organizations
Has a relationship with the civil
19 15 6 13
organisations from Central Hungary
Has relationship with the civil
8 8 3 6
organisations from Northern Hungary
Has a relationship with the civil
14 9 3 8
organisations of Northern Hungarian
Great Plain
27
Do the organisation has the official foreign relationship and with which
countries?
The organisation…
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Total
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Has
foreign
relationships
15 17 17 16
Has a relationship with the
7 12 13 10
neighbouring country/ies of the region
Has a relationship with other
3 4 5 4
neighbouring countries
Has a relationship with other foreign
11 9 9 10
countries
The organisation…
County town
Other town
Village
Total (column
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
%)
Has foreign relationships
25
17
9
16
Has a relationship with the
14 12 5 10
neighbouring country/ies of the region
Has a relationship with other
8 4 1 4
neighbouring countries
Has a relationship with other foreign
16 10 5 10
countries
93
Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
28
Is your organisation the member of the civil organisations in Southern
Hungarian Great Plain based microregional/or regional, territorial or
geographical elements?
29
Is your organisation a member of the civil organisation in the Southern Great
Hungarian Plain founded on the microregional and/or regional functioning
bases?
The organisation…
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Total
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Is a member of the organisation
18 19 15 17
founded on the territorial, geographical
bases
Is a member of the organisation
19 18 13 17
founded on the sector, functional bases
Is a member of the microregional
14 14 12 13
organization
Is a member of the regional
13 13 9 12
organisation
The organisation…
County town
Other town
Village
Total
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Is a member of the organisation
10 17 22 17
founded on the territorial, geographical
bases
Is a member of the organisation
12 15 23 17
founded on the sector, functional bases
Is a member of the microregional
8 12 19 13
organization
Is a member of the regional
7 13 13 12
organisation
30
Would they provide the foundation of the civil organisation on the microregional
and/or regional, territorial-geographical or sector-functional bases?
The organisation…
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Total
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Would provide the establishment of
30 38 39 36
the organisation on the geographical
bases
Would provide the establishment of
39 45 48 44
the organisations on the sector,
functional bases
94
Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
The organisation…
County town
Other town
Village
Total
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Would provide the establishment of
34 38 34 36
the organisations on the territorial,
geographical bases
Would provide the establishment of
54 41 40 44
the organisations on the sector,
functional bases
31
What is the opinion about the establishment of the region?
The opinion about the establishment of the
The averages of the values transformed to the
region?/County
scale of hundred
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
A new opportunity with lot of positively
62
65
69
Practice for EC conformity whose establishment is a
57 58 56
pressure-like responsibility
The best solution for the liquidation of the present,
50 50 56
underdeveloped administrative structure
A formal solution which does not fit in the present
43 44 39
developmental and administrative structure
Unnecessary burden for everyone
33
30
30
The opinion about the establishment of the
The averages of the values transformed to the
region?/Type of settlement
scale of hundred
County town
Other town
Village
A new opportunity with lot of positively
71
63
64
Practice for EC conformity whose establishment is a
56 57 59
pressure-like responsibility
The best solution for the liquidation of the present,
55 51 51
underdeveloped administrative structure
A formal solution which does not fit in the present
43 40 43
developmental and administrative structure
Unnecessary burden for everyone
30
31
32
95
Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
32
In your opinion, which settlement should be the centre of the South Hungarian
Great Plain region?
The name of the settlement
The proportion of those who suggest for the centre
of the region (%)
Szeged 42
Kecskemét 23
Békéscsaba 11
Gyula 2
Baja 2
Békés 3
Csongrád 3
Hódmezővásárhely –
Other settlement
5
The organisation…
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Total
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Did not suggest the county town for
33 57 16 15
the centre of region
Suggested Szegedet for the regional
23 28 77 42
center
Suggested Kecskemétet for the centre
55 5 4 23
of the region
Suggested Békéscsabát for the centre
1 35 – 11
of the region
33
In your opinion the ideas about the regional development regarding the
organisation …
The ideas of regional development regarding the
The average of the average values transformed to
organisation…
the scale of hundred
Provide more opportunities
53
Help the access to the sources
54
Provide more help to the function of the
52
organisations
The ideas of regional development regarding the
The average of the average values transformed
organisation…/county
to the scale of hundred
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Provide more opportunities
48
52
58
Help the access to the sources
50
54
57
Provide more help to the function of the organizations
50
50
57
96
Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
The ideas of regional development regarding the
The average of the average values transformed
organisation…/type of settlement
to the scale of hundred
County town
Other town
Village
Provide more opportunities
52
53
52
Help the access to the sources
51
54
55
Provide more help to the function of the organizations
50
53
53
34
What are the greatest expectations of your organisations from the establishment
of the South Hungarian Great Plain?
What are your expectations from the establishment South
The average of the average
Hungarian Great Plain?
values transformed to the
scale of hundred
Help in source access
65
New, expanded regional sources
65
More predictable system of competition
65
The significant development of territorial thinking and functioning
62
More specific help
58
The expansion of regional and local identity
56
Relatively local independence in the global world
50
We have no expectations
35
What are your expectations from the establishment
The average of the average values transformed
South Hungarian Great Plain?/ county
to the scale of hundred
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Help in source access
62
67
66
New, expanded regional sources
62
66
68
More predictable system of competition
62
66
67
The significant development of territorial thinking
59 63 65
and functioning
More specific help
56
58
61
The expansion of regional and local identity
55
56
58
Relatively local independence in the global world
48
51
53
We have no expectations
34
35
34
97
Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
35
To what extent is your organisation familiar with the …of South Hungarian
Great Plain
The organisation is partly or totally
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Total
familiar with the…of the South
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Hungarian Great Plain/County
System
of
institutions
40 49 56 48
The process of programming territorial
31 40 39 36
development
The significant element of the strategic
28 40 39 35
programme
The priorities of the concept of
27 39 38 34
development
The organisation is partly or totally
County town
Other town
Village
Total
familiar with the…of the South
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Hungarian Great Plain/Type of
settlement
System
of
institutions
57 50 40 48
The process of programming territorial
40 37 34 36
development
The significant element of the strategic
41 36 31 35
programme
The priorities of the concept of
40 33 33 34
development
36
They would participate in the establishment of the plans on the regional level?
Would you participate in the establishment of the plans on the
Yes
No
regional level?/type of the organization
(column %)
(column %)
Local 58
74
Microregional, agglomerate
13
7
County 11
7
Regional 5
3
National 11
6
Other 2
3
98
Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
Would you participate in the establishment of the plans on the
Yes
No
regional level?/The function of the organization
(line %)
(line %)
Public health
59
41
Social 61
38
Cultural 51
49
Educational 39
61
Children and youth
53
47
Sport and leisure
48
52
Professional 44
56
Public life, safeguard of interest
66
34
Rural and territorial development
82
18
Other 55
45
37
In your opinion in which counties, contained in the region, have the most
perspective opportunities for the civil organisations?
in which counties are the most
The answers
The answers
The answers
Total (%)
perspective opportunities for the civil of the organi- of the organi- of the organi-
organizations
sations from sations from sations from
Bács-Kiskun Békés county
Csongrád
(%)
(%)
county (%)
Bács-Kiskun
25 3 3 32
Békés
1 13 1 14
Csongrád
5 11 22 39
Did
not
answer
6 4 5 15
in which counties are the most per-
County town
Other town
Village
Total
spective opportunities for the civil
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
organisations/type of settlement
Bács-Kiskun
24 34 34 32
Békés
14 14 16 14
Csongrád
49 37 34 39
Did
not
answer
14 15 16 15
99
Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
38
Comparing to other regions what is your opinion about the situation of the civil
organisations in South Hungarian Great region…
Comparing to other regions, the
The answers
The answers
The answers
Total
situation of the civil organisations is of the organisa- of the organi- of the organi-
(%)
better or worse?/County
tions from
sations from sations from
Bács-Kiskun Békés county
Csongrád
(%)
(%)
county (%)
Better than in other regions
2
1
2
4
Similar
26 13 21 60
Worse than in other regions
3
16
4
23
Did
not
answer
6 2 4 12
Comparing to other regions, the
County town
Other town
Village
Total
situation of the civil organisations is
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
better or worse?/Settlement type
Better than in other regions
4
4
4
4
Similar
60 56 65 60
Worse than in other regions
21
28
19
23
Did
not
answer
15 12 12 12
39
What do you think about the future of the civil organisations of the region?
What do you think about the future of the civil
The average of the values transformed on the
organisations in the region?/County
scale of hundred
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
The development is the function of the present
60 64 60
situation
The situation and the opportunities would be more
51 51 55
balanced in the region
Decrease in submitted position of the civil society
50
50
52
Better position by all means
51
49
50
There will be no significant change in their position
48
51
47
There will be a continuous stop in their function
31
31
29
100
Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
What do you think about the future of the civil
The average of the values transformed on the
organisations in the region?/Type of settlement
scale of hundred
County town
Other town
Village
The development is the function of the present
59 62 62
situation
The situation and the opportunities would be more
56 51 52
balanced in the region
Decrease in submitted position of the civil society
52
49
52
Better position by all means
52
49
49
There will be no significant change in their position
44
51
50
There will be a continuous stop in their function
30
32
29
40
Tables of other questions
The organisation…
Bács-Kiskun
Békés
Csongrád
Total
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Is appropriate for the influence of
35 34 41 37
governmental, territorial development
Functions connected to the educational
17 25 23 22
institution
Took part in the training for the non-
28 39 35 34
profit organization
Has branches or branching groups
11
9
9
10
Has a furnishing contract with the
16 9 16 14
government or mutually plan it
Would like to take part in the
49 51 58 52
establishment of regional plans
Enlists persons who would probably
28 28 31 29
take part in the processes of regional
planning
101
Murányi, István - Péter, Judit - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2000. 102. p. Discussion Papers, No. 33.
The organisation…
County town
Other town
Village
Total
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
(column %)
Is appropriate for the influence of
33 38 37 37
governmental, territorial
development
Functions connected to the
24 21 21 22
educational institution
Took part in the training for the non-
40 35 27 34
profit organization
Has branches or branching groups
14
11
5
10
Has a furnishing contract with the
10 12 16 13
government or mutually plan it
Would like to take part in the
54 52 53 52
establishment of regional plans
Enlists persons who would probably
30 29 28 29
take part in the processes of regional
planning
102