ABSTRACT
There is broad agreement that the main strategic directions and lines of transition in Eastern and Central Europe are marketization, privatization, democratization, and the (re)opening or integration into the world economy. In practice, the transition to democratic structures was completed by parliamentary and local elections in 1990, and Hungary was accepted as a Western democracy by admission to the Council of Europe in November 1990. Hungary joined the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1972 and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in 1982. Since the end of the 1980s, Hungary has had to face complex conversion problems. In January 1989, the government of Hungary announced a unilateral reduction of 9 percent in military forces and armaments for the years 1989 and 1990. The strategic revision of basic principles of foreign policies and military doctrines had already started during the 1980s, but the revolutionary changes of 1989 created a totally new situation in East-West relations.
