The Capacity of the State to Govern the Spatial Marginality of Roma in Bulgaria and Hungary

This paper explores and compares the spatial marginalization of Roma in Bulgaria and Hungary framed within a historical context (cf. Powell and Lever 2017). It posits that the patterns of marginalization are intertwined with the capacity of the state to control spatial mobility. During state socialism, both countries implemented policies to improve housing conditions, but with highly different outcomes. In Bulgaria, the lack of the state’s capacity to control the spatial mobility of Roma resulted in large informal neighborhoods organized by ethnic belonging. In Hungary, the powerful assimilation policy and the state’s ability to control the marginalized led to the emergence of mixed-ethnic neighborhoods. These deprived neighborhoods were organized on class position and comprised individuals from similar social categories.

In recent times, socio-spatial dynamics have resulted in the convergence of segregation patterns in both countries. As a consequence of mass privatization, the residualized social housing and the absence of policies to improve housing conditions drove individuals to homeownership with market-based solutions endorsed by both states compelled the most vulnerable families to seek informal solutions. The upscaling of the urban centers and the implementation of various policies often resulted in displacement. The role of the state manifested in the absence of social and legal housing protection has resulted in evictions. The state's primary roles are to regulate the social and political order, to determine who is desirable and who is undesirable (cf. Gans, 1994), and to facilitate the spatial channeling of the marginalized through their filtering dynamics (Aguelira, 2024, Virág 2024). Consequently, in Hungary, mixed-ethnic neighborhoods have almost disappeared, and informal and racialized housing has become increasingly prevalent. In Bulgaria the large informal Roma neighborhood remains the primary segregation pattern but, due to the growing social stratification of Roma within the neighborhood, the socio-economic and ethnic boundaries have become increasingly salient.