Technology and the Environment in State-Socialist Hungary

Viktor Pál is Researcher and Lecturer at the University of Helsinki, Finland. He coordinates the Interdisciplinary Environmental Hub for Authoritarian Regimes (IEHAR) at the Aleksanteri Institute, Finland, and has served as a guest researcher at UCLA, USA, as well as at various European institutions. His research interests include urban environmental history, water history, history of technology and popularizing science.

“This work achieves its goal of reassessing our understanding of authoritarian regimes, showing that state-socialist Hungary actively pursued environmental programs. The regional emphasis is a great choice, because it enables an in-depth analysis of how local actors implemented these programs.” (Luminita Gatejel, Technology and Culture, Vol. 61 (3), 2020)

• Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. Economy, Technology and the Environment in Europe and in Hungary, 1800–1945.- Chapter 3. Economy, Technology and the Environment in Europe after World War II.- Chapter 4. Stalinist Vision for Economy and Environment in Hungary in the 1950s.- Chapter 5. Economic Reforms and Environmental Protection in Hungary the 1960s.- Chapter 6. Technological Reform and Environmental Performance in Hungary in the 1960s.- Chapter 7. Capacity Building in Environmental Services and the Environmental  Shift in Hungary in the 1960s and 1970s.- Chapter 8. Economic Stagnation and Failed Environmental Reform in the 1970s.- Chapter 9. The Environmental Movement and Political Opposition in the 1980s.- Chapter 10. Epilogue.