Overcoming the ‘grassroots’ momentum: the rise and the fall of the 2015 solidarity initiatives in Hungary (2015-2023)
Date
2023
Authors
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Publisher
Tartu Ülikool
Abstract
This thesis investigates what challenges the solidarity grassroots initiatives (GRIs) formed in Hungary as a response to the 2015 Migration crisis faced after the autumn of 2015 when the migration flow to the country ceased. It examines in detail the evolution of the three largest groups (Migration Aid, Let’s Help Refugees Together, and Migrant Solidarity Szeged) two of which became legally registered as NGOs, as voluntary civil society organisations (CSOs) engaged with migrant work in the predominantly anti-migrant environment in Hungary – a state with comparatively low levels of civic activism as well, a common characteristic of post-communist states. Based on a theoretical framework providing testable explanatory components of GRIs’ prosperity and on empirical work on-site in Hungary, involving in-depth interviews with 13 participants, this research presents an extensive overview of the concrete ‘factors’ that contributed either to the closure or the continuation of the activities of the 3 organisations until the present day. The results unequivocally pinpoint 2 factors that had the greatest effect on GRIs’ ‘survival’, or their ‘failure’ post the 2015 events – namely the size of the volunteer body and the persistence of the leadership. Furthermore, this research provides evidence on two more grounds – firstly, that the legal environment in which civil society organisations in Hungary exist greatly affects their capability to sustain operations, and secondly, that volunteers assisting in humanitarian emergencies may experience a number of mental health issues that severely affect their wellbeing, personal lives, and willingness to continue volunteering.