ABSTRACT
Hungary has only recently moved through the transformation to a liberal democratic state, and is less industrialized and economically developed than the Western European states. Economically, the transition to a market economy has not yet been completed. Migration has characterized the area inhabited by Hungarians or Magyars both before and since the establishment of the Hungarian Kingdom at the onset of the eleventh century. The decision of the Hungarian government to let tens of thousands of East German refugees transit through Hungary to the West in 1989 was a historical event that contributed to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the communist system in Central and Eastern Europe. The authorities administering and implementing the Citizenship and Aliens Acts respectively, have 'broad discretionary powers' to decide on their own policies and procedures.
