Petőcz Kálmán (szerk.): National Populism and Slovak - Hungarian Relations in Slovakia 2006-2009 (Somorja, 2009)
Peter Učen: Approaching National Populism
Approaching National Populism SMER originates as an anti-establishment and non-ideological populist project within the opportunities of the transition populism era. It was characterized by the noteworthy elements of the radical right views on themes such as law and order, at least when it comes to the rhetoric of the party leader Fico. Although the nationalist utterances were not absent from Mr. Fico’s campaigns, we hold that the party owes its recent success to populism rather than nationalism. Along with embracing the rhetoric of radical criticism of the impact of the previous governments’ reforms, more importantly, Fico astutely (re)introduced into the Slovak politics the diction of the care for the concerns of the ‘commoners’.25 Thus he managed to monopolise all kinds of disenchantment with the way Slovak politics have been recently operating. From what has been said above, our scepticism regarding the possibility of reviving an old national populism of the 1990s is obvious. We take the view that the ‘sedative’ Fico offered to voters was of a different kind then the Mečiar’s did; taking care of the common people’s concerns rather than a ‘bearable transition’. Fico appeals to people who can by no means feel fatally threatened by the material deprivations, or see their state in jeopardy - even though such people certainly exist, their number would not account for the election results of SMER. SMER’s message resonates among the group who deem that politics as it has recently been done disregarded their interests and concerns. They are badly in need of mental satisfaction rather than asking for concrete policies to be implemented. While a part of such a group coincides with those amenable to the national-populist mobilisation, national populist politics certainly can not be considered a prescription for victory. Having said so, however, we hasten to add that the possibility of a national populist revival should be a primary concern of this project. While we object nationalism being the key element of the SMER’s ascension to power, we are open to debating the possibility of a radicalization of its politics in the nationalist terms. There are several hypotheses to be researched in as to whether it is feasible to expect a more virulent blend of the nationalism and populism to play a more prominent role in the politics of SMER and the whole coalition. In order to do that, we find quite useful to inquire into the nature of nationalism the members of the current ruling coalition may exhibit. We also recommend seeing into the role of populism in articulating political arguments. The enquiry related to the affinities making the cooperation of the current coalition possible should not fall beyond the scope of the research either.26 We suggest that whether the politics of the current coalition 33
