national populism and slovak – hungarian relations in - MEK

National Populism in Slovakia...electoral competition, political forces that are viewed as populist based ontheir internal character, program, values, ideological background and preferredmethods of voter mobilization became an important part of the country’sparty system. Since 1992, these forces have regularly posted solidresults in parliamentary elections and – in case of favourable power configuration– formed coalition governments that relied on majority in parliament.Such was the case in 1992 when the HZDS formed a majority crypto-coalitiongovernment with the SNS (that turned into overt coalition ayear later); in 1994 when early elections brought to power the coalition ofHZDS – ZRS – SNS; and finally in 2006 when the incumbent administrationwas formed by the coalition of SMER-SD – SNS – ¼S-HZDS.The general approach to power execution may be viewed as the basiccriterion to distinguish between different protagonists of populist politics inSlovakia; based on this typology, one may identify ‘hard’ (authoritarian)and ‘soft’ (prevailingly non-authoritarian) populism. In early stages of transformation,i.e. before the process of EU integration was launched,Slovakia’s political landscape generated the first generation of populistpoliticians (i.e. ‘hard’ populists gathered at the time in the HZDS and SNS);the second generation of populists began to emerge during the period ofreviving the country’s integration ambitions (i.e. between 1998 and 2002)and gained its political foothold immediately before and after Slovakia’s EUaccession when ‘soft’ populists (SMER-SD) became a dominant politicalforce. 2 The contemporary period may be characterized by mutual cooperationbetween both generations and types of populist actors; in 2006, theircooperation was upgraded to the government level.Protagonists of National PopulismA typical representative of national populism in Slovakia is the SlovakNational Party (SNS). The party was founded in spring 1990 by the meansof publicly subscribing to the legacy of the historic SNS; several monthslater, in the first free parliamentary elections in the country’s modern history,it received enough votes to qualify to the national parliament, theSlovak National Council. It has evolved into a relevant political subject andhas been represented in parliament ever since 1990, except for the hiatusbetween 2002 and 2006 when it remained outside the assembly due to aninternal rift that led to a defeat in the 2002 elections.Between 1990 and 1992, the party was the weightiest political representativeof Slovak separatism. Relatively soon after it emerged and enteredparliament, it began to champion the idea of Slovakia’s state sovereignty.National Populism and Slovak – Hungarian Relations in Slovakia 2006 – 2009. Forum Minority Research Institute Šamorín – Somorja, 200941