The Slovak Republic: explaining defects in democracy

Slovakia's democratic failings were heavily criticised during the third government of Prime Minister Mečiar, 1994–98, yet there has been little explanation of the speed with which it reformed and gained European Union membership after elections changed the government. While it appeared to be a defective democracy of the illiberal type during the 1990s, many of the factors the literature highlights as having caused this phenomenon elsewhere do not apply to Slovakia. The design of its political institutions, socio-economic conditions and the international environment were all favourable, although clientelistic practices, problems with state and nation building and elite inexperience did cause difficulties. Consequently, although it is tempting to regard Slovakia as an interesting case of the ‘progression scenario’, whereby the flaws of a ‘defective democracy’ are overcome and democratic consolidation ensues, a different interpretation is possible. For it is questionable whether governmental abuses of power during a single parliamentary term justify the varying descriptions of Mečiar's time in power as a distinctive regime. Many of the negative evaluations of Slovakia in the 1990s overlook the historical, structural, institutional, political and cultural context in which it existed. They also overlook the strong presence throughout this time of diverse and numerically strong oppositional elites who proved able, when they organized adequately, to ensure their country's path to European integration.