It’s all about Italy, even if you are in Hungary

Just after three months time spent in Italy one of the longest weeks has arrived. Let’s say that almost everything is included in these seven days:  giving a presentation in Hungary, getting ready for the exam period back home, organizing our first table soccer tournament, visiting San Siro for a prestigious game  and of course participating in some memorable parties. But how did it all started ?

As the date of my graduation rapidly approaches, I wanted to capitalize on the chance to participate in the well-known Hungarian university student competition, called “OTDK”. In brief words, the main aim of this whole competition is to promote the personal advancement in the chosen field of study and to pave the way towards young student’s future research career. The works prepared for this event can serve as the basis of the final theses or also as an initial step towards a future, serious  research. As I was always interested in the issues of nationalism, ethnicity and ethnic conflict, I decided to chose the topic of the public support of radical-right parties in the region of Central-Eastern-Europe (CEE). I investigated the possible links between the territorial percentage of ethnic and national minorities, the territorial economic development and the voter’s backing of anti-minority radical-right parties, just like the Hungarian Jobbik or the Bulgarian Ataka.

In order to present my work, I had to return to Hungary. It was a fast run: only four days in my country, out of which two nights in the scene of the event, one night (of course spent with party)  in my hometown and one short night in the capital city, Budapest. The presentation went quite well, however I already knew that I did not have chance to reach one of the first three places.

The first place was conquered by a girl who presented her research on the notorious scandal, called  “Tangetopoli” which shocked Italy in the early 90’s. In the beginning of the presentation I thought it’s all going to be about the chronological enumeration of the happenings, but later I had to find out it’s going to be more complex than it seems. Even though I did not read her research, I am pretty sure that she had invested an enormous amount of energy to her work, being one of the most complicated topics of the modern-age Italian political history. On the basis of her presentation she investigated the connections between corrupt politicians and business men, while applying the network theory on the whole case. I guess her topic would even worth a publication here in Italy as many of the Italians don’t know anything about the corrupt networks of that age. The only question which remains, whether anyone here in Italy has done something similar before.

Besides this outstanding work, another paper concerning the situation in South-Italy was awarded with the third place. Veronika Patkòs, a former  Erasmus student in Bologna, has done a comprehensive research on the roots of the differences between the north and south part of Italy while revealing the causes of the economic backwardness of the latter. She also investigated the electoral behaviour of the South-Italian citizens especially focusing on women.

Hereby I would like to take the chance to congratulate them; they rocked this competition with their Italy-related works.

Seems like, that it’s all about Italy, even when you are in Hungary : )

Regarding this weekend we will have a packed program as two of my friends – Adam and Albert- came to visit me today. The upcoming days won’t be full of entertainment, as on Sunday our first table soccer tournament will take place in Bresso within the frameworks of  the local “Happy Sport” event. If You are eventually here in Milan or Lombardy do not hesitate to subscribe!