“So we try to strive”: livelihood strategies in transition after the Euromaidan in Transcarpathia, Ukraine

Abstract

Ukraine’s recent turbulent history created serious economic and social consequences on its westernmost region, Transcarpathia. The East Ukrainian armed conflict, accompanied by a serious economic downturn, resulted in major modifications in individual and family life strategies determined by emigration and the neighboring states’ migration policies.

In this research we focus on the effects of recent political events (Euromaidan, the Russian takeover in Crimea and the Donbas conflict) on Transcarpathia and its ethnic Hungarian population and how this transformed individual and family life and migration strategies especially in terms of Hungarian–Ukrainian cross-border relations. The above issues are inseparable from Hungary’s kin-state and neighbourhood politics, thus we attempted to reveal the policy measures implemented by Hungary influencing migratory decisions. The study is based on 26 semi-structured interviews conducted in spring 2016 in Transcarpathia and Budapest, complemented by information deriving from statistical data and policy documents.

We found that in the past few years, individual and family coping strategies were transformed by the Eastern Ukrainian unrest (including the military drafts), the political instability and the country’s economic crisis culminating in falling living standards and feelings of insecurity and hopelessness. The dysfunctions of Ukrainian state – like in many other postsoviet countries – hampers people’s to rely access to the on state welfare system. Due to difficulties of livelihood in Transcarpathia, mobility (e.g. work abroad) and cross-border informal economic practices received a novel impetus in Transcarpathia, a region already traditionally characterized by high migration potential. While circular mobility is a main feature of both labour migration and other cross-border movements (e.g. smuggling, commuting), recently, final resettlement in a foreign country became more dominant.

The dynamics of emigration are highly influenced by Hungary’s kin-state politics, especially its preferential (re)naturalisation simplifying the acquisition of Hungarian citizenship. Since 2014, the Hungarian governments have elaborated several economic and cultural programmes and projects for the Transcarpathian Hungarians in order to foster their well-being in their homeland. Nevertheless, since migration became the new norm due to the changing social and economic conditions, the above projects supporting staying at home are no longer appropriate; even more, the preferential naturalisation generated extensive emigration from Transcarpathia.