During the first decade after the turn towards democracy and market economy, Hungary's society experienced profound changes. The book analyses related political, legal, institutional and socio-economic structures and processes in order to contribute to a further understanding of Hungary's ongoing transformation processes and its current situation as one of the leading candidates for EU membership. The topics include constitutive elements of a modern market economy as well as education, income structures, the poverty situation, post-communist voting behaviour, regional and urban development and Hungary's cross-border co-operations. The role of Budapest within the European city system and Hungary's economic situation within Europe are also discussed. Drawing together comprehensive empirical data and a geat variety of viewpoints, the book offers innovative examples of the application of different theoretical approaches to transformation studies and studies of economy and society in general.

This book presents the most comprehensive and detailed overview of the physical environment of Hungary. The book makes a specific effort to connect regional geography with natural forcing and influencing factors. The first section discusses general characteristics relating to the physical geography of Hungary on a more theoretical basis including relief evolution, climate, hydrography, soils and vegetation. The second part focuses on regional content and analyzes conflicts, environmental values, threats and impacts of the different geographical units. This book appeals to researchers as well as students of physical geography and related disciplines and serves as a useful source for regional information on Hungary. This book can also be used as a field guide of the physical properties of this European country.

When the communist governments of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union collapsed between 1989 and 1991, there was a revived interest in a region that had been largely neglected by western geographers. Mapping Modernities draws on the resulting work and other original theoretical and empirical sources to describe, interpret and explain the place and spatial order of modernities in Central and Eastern Europe since 1920, to give a theoretically underpinned, regional geography of the area. The book interprets the geography of Central and Eastern Europe from 1920 to 2000 in terms of spatial modernity. It details the individual and collective development of places produced within the three modernising projects of Nationalism, Communism and Neo-liberalism.