Information technology in rural Hungary: plans and reality

Rural areas cover 87% of the territory and are inhabited by 45% of the population in Hungary. These areas have the same problem as most of the rural areas in Europe: migration of the active, well-trained labour force, depopulation, unfavourable age structure, high unemployment rate with critical labour market situation in the small settlements. Information and Communication Technology – if used properly – can serve as a solution to these problems, although there is much to be done in this field. The authors have started to examine the current situation of the basic ICT-indicators in Hungary, with a special focus on small settlements, and they have also given a historical overview on the past years’ governmental strategies (especially the National Information Society Strategy), the new National Rural Development Strategy and civic efforts (ex. The telecottage movement) to boost the widespread usage of these technologies, as well as an evaluation of the impact of the aforementioned factors

Erdély és a Partium a magyar hadtörténelemben

Hungarian military history is geographically tied to the Carpathian Basin, as the battles that determined the long-term fate of the Hungarian nation were fought in this geographical region, though Hungarians had also fought a great number of battles outside this area. Due to the physical geography of the Carpathian Basin, certain regions played a more important role than others in Hungarian military history. One of these special regions was Transylvania, which along with the adjacent Partium, became a symbol of the independent Hungarian state during the Ottoman rule. In addition, Transylvania, with its unique geographical separateness constituted a distinct sub-theater during the major wars of independence the Hungarians fought. The battles fought here generally did not have a great impact on the wars of independence, but they still influenced the outcomes. Thus Transylvania and Partium provide a special illustration of history and military geography, one which is inseparable from the Carpathian Basin. The present study discusses the geographical factors that made Transylvania a constant sub-theater of war in Hungarian military history. At the same time, it also describes the region’s geography, touching on how this seemingly peripheral area became an independent power center during certain historical periods

Historical changes in the role of geographical factors in military decision making

Military affairs as public activities and institutions are fundamentally connected to their geographical environment and landscape. While this close relationship has been a constant phenomenon in the cultural history of human societies, its manifestations have been different in each historical era. Nevertheless, this process can best be described by the tightening relationship between geographical factors and military affairs. The significance of the impact of geographical relations on military activities was realized from the beginning, but the development of this understanding - from empiricism to modem academic military geographical thinking - has been a special process of cultural history. The way military decisionmaking has considered geographical factors over time shows a tight correlation with the general geographical literacy and the standing of geography as a science in a given era, as well as with how developed management theory was at the time. The present study describes the main steps and some special features of the cultural history of this multifaceted development, which involves both management theory and strategic management

The Bright Face of Dark Tourism - Military Conflicts and World Travel in the Modern Era

In the history of modern culture, besides its primary task of imposing political will, the military has also served as a major travel institution. The geographical dimensions of wars and the increasingly greater military forces involved have resulted in millions of people being compelled to get to know foreign lands and cultures as soldiers. Thus, military forces have become agents of developing societies’ geographical culture. This phenomenon is the bright face of dark tourism. Still, dark tourism has another positive aspect as well: the scientific exploration of certain landscapes and regions. Modern military forces have launched numerous scientific explorations to learn about the Earth. There are two types of such explorations: exploratory trips related to military campaigns and endeavors of purely scientific purposes. At the same time, scientific knowledge accumulated in the military has also played important roles in geographic research. The transportation of large numbers of personnel and the scientific expeditions of military forces have led to the development of military travel literature, whose significance goes beyond the framework of military geography and which has become an organic part of academic geographical literature

The Role of Intermediaries in the Success of Electronic Claiming for Farm Subsidies in Hungary

The main electronic government service in the Hungarian agriculture created by the ARDA and MVH, CAO, MgSZH started to introduce electronic filling and submission of application forms in 2008, aiming to simplify procedures in connection with applications for area payments which are the basic elements of the European Common Agriculture Policy (CAP). Already in 2007 it was possible for clients (with more than 200 ha area) to receive this payments (SAPS) through the electronic form submission system. In 2008 every client has the possibility to create and submit his/her application for area payment electronically with a PC. Although the internet penetration is quite low among Hungarian farmers, the majority of the documents (about 95%) were sent to the ARDA electronically. This process shows that the often mentioned “mentor”, “moderator” or “social intermediary” approach is working perfectly to narrow the digital divide and to make better public services. The authors present the whole practice and experiences of the successful electronic e-claiming system