Paprika, Foie Gras, and Red Mud

Zsuzsa Gille

Description

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In this original and provocative study, Zsuzsa Gille examines three scandals that have shaken Hungary since it joined the European Union: the 2004 ban on paprika due to contamination, the 2008 boycott of Hungarian foie gras by Austrian animal rights activists, and the "red mud" spill of 2010, Hungary's worst environmental disaster. In each case, Gille analyzes how practices of production and consumption were affected by the proliferation of new standards and regulations that came with entry into the EU. She identifies a new modality of power—the materialization of politics, or achieving political goals with the seemingly apolitical tools of tinkering with technology and infrastructure—and elucidates a new approach to understanding globalization, materiality, and transnational politics.

Introduction: Hungary and the EU in the Political and Scholarly Imagination
1. The 2004 Hungarian Paprika Ban
2. The 2008 Foie Gras Boycott
3. The 2010 Red Mud Spill
4. Neoliberalism, Molecularization, and the Shift to Governance
Conclusion: The Materialization of Politics

Sujets

• HISTORY
• POLITICAL SCIENCE
• Histoire
• Hungría
• Austria
• Globalization
• Hungary
• History of Europe
• European Union
• Union européenne
• EU
• Hongrie
• Europe

Informations

• Publié par: Indiana University Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780253019509
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

P APRIKA ,
F OIE G RAS ,
and R ED M UD
Global Research Studies is part of the Framing the Global project, an initiative of Indiana University Press and the Indiana University Center for the Study of Global Change, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Alfred C. Aman Jr .
Eduardo Brondizio
Maria Bucur
Bruce L. Jaffee
Patrick O Meara
Radhika Parameswaran
Heidi Ross
Richard R. Wilk
P APRIKA ,
F OIE G RAS ,
and R ED M UD
THE POLITICS OF MATERIALITY IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

Z SUZSA G ILLE
This book is a publication of
INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS
Office of Scholarly Publishing
Herman B Wells Library 350
1320 East 10th Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA
iupress.indiana.edu
2016 by Zsuzsa Gille
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z 39.48-1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Cataloging information is available from the Library of Congress
978-0-253-01938-7 (cloth)
978-0-253-01946-2 (paperback)
978-0-253-01950-9 (ebook)
1 2 3 4 5 21 20 19 18 17 16
To my children, Shara and bel, and to the victims of the 2010 red mud disaster.
CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Hungary and the EU in the Political and Scholarly Imagination
1.
The 2004 Hungarian Paprika Ban
2.
The 2008 Foie Gras Boycott
3.
The 2010 Red Mud Spill
4.
Neoliberalism, Molecularization, and the Shift to Governance

Conclusion: The Materialization of Politics

Notes

References

Index
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I THOUGHT THIS BOOK would be easy to write. I certainly had written about the three case studies and I certainly had an argument, and yet the intricacies of connecting empirical findings to theory demanded that I let this book ferment, as one would a barrel of good wine. Over the years I was sustained in many ways-intellectually, financially, and emotionally-by many people and organizations. Without them the book would not have matured as I now see it has. For intellectual sustenance, inspiration, and constructive comments on the cases and the thesis, I owe the most gratitude to colleagues and mentors: Martha Lampland, Rachel Schurman, Nicky Gregson, Michael Burawoy, Michael Goldman, Saskia Sassen, Elizabeth Dunn, Katherine Verdery, Michael Kennedy, Yuson Jung, Melissa Caldwell, Gyula Kasza, Jacob Klein, Harry West, Neringa Klumbyte, Krisztina Feh rv ry, Andrew Szasz, Michael Bell, Peter Jackson, Dace Dzenovska, and the Unit for Criticism collective at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign-especially Lauren Goodlad, Michael Rothberg, and Jesse Ribot. Over the past few years, I benefited greatly from conversations and passionate debates with, as I affectionately refer to them, my fellow fellows of the Framing the Global endeavor at Indiana University, Bloomington, especially Rachel Harvey, Hilary Kahn, Michael Mascarenhas, Prakash Kumar, and Faranak Miraftab. I learned the most, however, from exchanges with my former student who has now, in a role reversal, become a mentor of sorts to me: Diana Mincyte. In addition, my arguments gained more precision from constructive criticism by anonymous reviewers at Eastern European Politics and Societies, Environment and Planning A, Global Society , and Indiana University Press.
I received generous support for conducting research over the years from the Mellon Foundation through its funding of the Framing the Global project; the Social Science Research Council; the UK s Economic and Social Research Council; the Rachel Carson Center in Munich, Germany; International Research and Exchanges Board; Center for Advanced Studies at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universit t in Munich, Germany; the Institute for Sociological Studies at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic; and the following entities at the University of Illinois: the Social Dimensions of Environmental Policy working group at the Beckman Center, the Research Board s Arnold O. Beckman Award, the Graduate College s Focal Point Fellowship, the Center for Global Studies, the European Union Center, and the Faculty Exchange Program between the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. My research not only benefited greatly from the conscientious assistance of many of my advisees-Jose Peralta, Taka Ono, Becky Gresh, Grant Shoffstall, and Jeremiah Bohr-but I also learned a lot from them.
I thank the many Hungarians who helped me understand the everyday complexities of food policies-farmers, salespersons, integrators, marketing experts, government officials, and activists. I owe the most gratitude to the many victims of the 2010 red mud disaster from Devecser, Kolont r, and Soml jen . I especially thank Zsuzsa Halmay, Anita So s, Mari M rton, and other members of the V r s-Iszap K rosultak rt Kiemelten K zhaszn Egyes let (Union for the Victims of Red Mud Disaster) for opening their homes and hearts at an especially difficult time in their lives. I am grateful to Dr. gota L n rt for introducing me to officials and charity organizations active in the red mud aid programs and for teaching me about the psychological effects of disasters. I am grateful to the Sociological Institute at Charles University in Prague for providing me with space and time to complete the manuscript; the loneliness of the writing was much mitigated by the friendship of colleagues there and by the beauty of the Czech Republic.
My family in Hungary-especially my two aunts and two cousins-have made the hardships of fieldwork bearable by providing me with warmth, understanding, logistical help, humor, lots of home-cooked meals, and sometimes just with plain listening. My husband, Richard S. Esbenshade, not only accompanied me, initially with our children Shara and bel, to many of the research sites, but he also helped sustain our home and hearth in two continents, supported me not only emotionally and intellectually, but also by being a ruthless though patient editor of my writing. I thank the whole Esbenshade family for putting up with our crazy travel schedules and providing practical and emotional support.
My friends in Champaign-Urbana have kept up my spirits and self-confidence in more ways and more times than I can count: thank you, Behrooz, David W., Faranak, Anghy, Lisa R., Lisa C., Angelina, Manisha, and Dede. I also thank the Hochschilds for graciously opening their homes for a productive writing retreat in the summer of 2013, during which time Faranak offered companionship and motivation. To all of you and others I may have missed: thank you with all my heart.
P APRIKA ,
F OIE G RAS ,
and R ED M UD
INTRODUCTION
HUNGARY AND THE EU IN THE POLITICAL AND SCHOLARLY IMAGINATION
This book is about a truly momentous event: the admission of a former socialist country, Hungary, into its one-time nemesis, the European Union, in 2004. By all accounts, unlike most other former members of the Soviet bloc, Hungary-my home country-at the time was expected not only to be admitted first, but also to make a smooth transition into being a productive and full-fledged citizen of this once exclusively Western club. The promising signs were everywhere. Hungary boasted the most open economy at the time state socialism collapsed, in part due to an extensive second economy and household agricultural sector (Lengyel 2012). 1 Its food and electronics industries were already successfully exporting to the West. As a result of political liberalization in the last decade of the regime, as well as the myriad civic initiatives and movements of the 1980s-and allegedly also the historical pride in the uprising of 1956 (Swain 1989)-its citizenry was poised to effortlessly adopt democracy and its related institutions.
Despite such expectations and their apparently high chance of success, ten years after the accession Hungary was a laggard in many common social and economic indicators. In terms of gross domestic product per capita, a common metric of abundance, Hungary s ranking in the world fell from fifty-first place in 2004 to fifty-seventh in 2014. Its poverty rate was higher than during the economic crisis that followed the collapse of the Soviet bloc, and with a poverty rate three times the EU average, it ranked as the second poorest member state. 2 The government of Viktor Orb n, during its five-year reign, rolled back a number of democratic achievements, and the extreme right-wing, if not fascist, party Jobbik enjoys increasing popularity. 3 In 2014, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project ( OCCRP ) ranked Hungary s prime minister Viktor Orb n second in their contest for person of the year, as head of the most corrupt political regime in the world, a runner-up to Russian president Vladimir Putin. 4
To be sure, if the 2014 elections (national parliamentary, EU parliamentary, and municipal), in which FIDESZ -the ruling right wing party-won by a landslide, are anything to go by, a large part of the electorate doesn t agree that there is anything wrong with their economy or political regime. Could it be that they measure success and failure differently from the pundi