PUBLICATION: Analysis
Balkan Csárdás: Hungarian Foreign Policy Dance
Since Orbán reassumed power in 2010, the Hungarian government has taken a more active role in the Western Balkans. In a short time period, it has increased its political and economic footprint.
This paper is one of few all-encompassing efforts to explain Hungarian policy and involvement in the Western Balkans, and it attempts to do so by asking the following questions:
What interests and strategic considerations drive Hungarian foreign and trade policy in the region? Who formulates foreign policy priorities in Hungary and what is the interplay between formal and informal actors? What economic interests shape Hungarian foreign policy in the region? How much has Hungarian foreign policy in the region changed as a result of the war in Ukraine?
To answer these questions, this paper is divided into four main sections. The first focuses on Hungary’s foreign policy strategy in the region. The second, as a special case study, investigates the effects of Orbán’s minority politics in Serbia’s Autonomous Province of Vojvodina (Vajdaság in Hungarian). The third, researching the Hungarian media empire in the region, and finally the fourth focuses on the economic drivers of Hungary’s approach in the region.
The paper builds upon numerous secondary sources and online and in-person interviews conducted with 19 government representatives, politicians, foreign policy experts, scholars, and journalists from Hungary, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia.
Skip to PDF contentTags:
AUTHORS
SHARE
PDF PREVIEW
RELATED
Date: 09.02.2026.
Author: Maja Bjeloš |
The concept of the “colour revolution” has shifted from describing democratic uprisings in post-socialist states to serving as a powerful tool of authoritarian control. In Serbia, the ruling elite—drawing heavily on the Russian strategic playbook—has reframed the term as a symbol of foreign subversion aimed at overthrowing the government and destabilising the country. Since 2012, this narrative has been systematically used to delegitimise dissent, protests, and civic mobilisation.
Date: 01.02.2026.
Author: Belgrade Centre for Security Policy
The war in Ukraine has reverberated across the Western Balkans in ways that reflect the region’s own political dynamics more than the influence of any external actor, including Russia. In Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, media coverage and public narratives surrounding the conflict have been shaped primarily by domestic political realities, local media structures, and long-standing identity divides.
Date: 19.01.2026.
Author: Belgrade Centre for Security Policy
An analysis of nine far-right Telegram channels from Serbia, conducted during June and July 2025, shows that although these actors are numerically limited, they exert significant influence in spreading nationalist, pro-Russian, and anti-system narratives.
