Page - 335 - in Österreich-Ungarns imperiale Herausforderungen - Nationalismen und Rivalitäten im Habsburgerreich um 1900

© 2020, V&R unipress GmbH, Göttingen ISBN Print: 9783847110606 – ISBN E-Lib: 9783737010603 an empire. Such an interpretationwould be all themore legitimate sinceNew ImperialHistory regardseventhemorehomogeneoussuccessorstatesasmini- orquasi-empires.6 The existence of such an ‘informal’ or ‘hidden’ imperialismwas on the one handtheresultofahistorical legacy.But itwasalso the resultof thechallenges Austria-Hungary in general, and itsHungarian component state inparticular, faced around the turn of the 20th century. They emerged in the context of modernization,nationalmobilization,masspolitics,andthereconfigurationof the relationship between state and citizen.7Not surprisingly, one of these ele- mentswasnationalistpolitics(includingHungariannationalismaswell),therise ofwhichaffectedthebalanceoftheempiretoo.Thenextmatterwastheissueof modernizationinastateofunevendevelopment.8IncertainregionsofHungary in the decade beforeWorldWar I (for example inTransylvania) a premodern economyco-existedwith the chance to ride thewave of the second industrial revolution through exploitationof natural resources such as natural gas. Both backwardness and the chanceof a leap forward resulted indevelopmentplans thatwere accompaniedby ideasof social reformand transformation, but they werehard to realizewithout thecentral government’s intervention.9 Competitionwiththenewnationstatesthatoftenseemedtobemoreefficient than the traditional, continental, anddynastic empireswas another important factor. The resultingmutual adaptation process between empires and nation statesgeneratedsocial,economic,andpoliticaltensionsandboththecenterand theperipheral localshadtofindwaystomanagethem.Thus,theefficiencyofthe state inmanaging its peripheries became crucial, and presented a third chal- lenge. Here Iwill use the examples of center-periphery relations to show the sig- nificance of imperial practices and their interrelatedness with the new chal- lenges. The threemodels I intend to present are (1) self-colonizing based on feudaltraditions,amethodthatreconciledcentralizationwithpracticalregional autonomy,whilemaking ethnic boundaries insignificantwithin local society; (2)aregionalistmovementthathasgrownoutofadesireformodernizationand 6 Hirschhausen,NewImperialHistory? (seenote1),p. 753. 7 Cohen,NationalistPolitics (seenote2). 8 AndrewC. Janos,ThePoliticsofBackwardness inHungary1825–1945,Princeton1982. 9 Balaton Petra, A sz8kely akcij elo˝zm8nye 8s tört8nete, in: Moln#r Vilmos/Löv8tei L#z#r L#szlj/Bot#rEmo˝ke(ed.),Sz8kelyföldPvkönyv2010,Cs&kszereda2010,p. 181–207;B#rdi,Az erd8lyimagyar(8sregion#lis)8rdekekmegjelen&t8seaz1910-es8vekben.AzErd8lyiSzövets8g programv#ltozatai, in:MagyarKisebbs8g8/3–4 (2003), p. 93–105;ZsoltK. Lengyel,Nieder- gang, Wiederherstellung, Neugestaltung, Zusammenbruch: Ungarische Reform- und Zu- kunftsentwürfe für Siebenbürgen am Vorabend und während des erstenWeltkrieges, in: HaraldHeppner(Hg.),UmbruchmitSchlachtenlärm.SiebenbürgenundderErsteWeltrkieg, Köln2016,p. 53–112. RegionalElites,NationalistPolitics, LocalAccommodations 335