Petőcz Kálmán (szerk.): National Populism and Slovak - Hungarian Relations in Slovakia 2006-2009 (Somorja, 2009)
Grigorij Mesežnikov: National Populism in Slovakia - Defining the Character of the State and Interpreting Select Historic Events
National Populism in Slovakia... accused its representatives of “trying to usurp November 17 and score political points from it”.“ Such diction clearly indicates that the HZDS never quite embraced the legacy and values of November 1989. Future Prospects REqARdiNq Actívítíes of NatíonaI PopulisTS ín SlovAkiA Mobilization strategies used by national populists in Slovakia after 1989 have proven sufficiently effective not only in terms of drumming up voter support and gaining a strong power position but also in the sense of influencing the public discourse and overall atmosphere in society. Long-term presence of national populism political forces on the country’s political landscape gave birth to a certain communication culture that is based on confrontation and conflict. This culture creates strong division lines between different population groups by emphasizing their collective identity as a solid bond used to distinguish themselves from other identity groups. The said method of political communication complicates the civic dialogue by its very non-dialogic nature. On the verbal level, the national-populist appeal shows especially through confrontational attitudes with respect to members of ethnic minorities and upholders of different opinions. On the one hand, chief protagonists of this appeal have toned down their radicalism after the 2006 elections; on the other hand, patterns of the national-populist appeal have begun to penetrate the general public discourse on a much more massive scale compared to the period of 1998-2006. After 2006, national populists enjoyed a much stronger power position; they strove to use it to transform their concepts of various aspects of society development into government policies, including those in the field of education, culture and ethnic minorities. In other words, upholders of radical nationalistic views gained a chance to bring their ideological views from the political spectrum’s margin into its centre. Naturally, effectiveness of national populists’ mobilization strategies has not only an ethnic-nationalist dimension but also a social one. Strengthening populist parties’ position in Slovakia in recent years should be viewed in the context of socio-economic developments, an area where thorough liberal reforms were implemented after 1998 but especially between 2002 and 2006. Some population groups’ aversion to these reforms’ social impact (actual or fictitious) combined with lingering anti-capitalist and anti-liberal 61
