POPULISM IN SLOVAKIA: PECULIARITIES OF A POLITICAL PHENOMENON

Abstract

The article analyzes the party-political aspects of populism in the Slovak Republic. The structural distinction between the parties of systemic mainstream and populism has come to the forefront of Slovakia's party-political development. The aim of the article is to highlight the specifics of the phenomenon of populism, its forms and party representatives in Slovakia. Considering the emergence and electoral success of populist parties, there is a need to emphasize the complexity of the phenomenon of populism in the modern Slovak Republic. Populists do not have clear ideological attitudes. they use the maxims of various ideological doctrines, which are based on practical needs. The distinction between systemic and populist parties is becoming more complicated today, as their positions on a number of important political issues have converged recently

In the process of post-communist development in the Slovak Republic there was a transition from radical forms of populist politics through nationalism and authoritarianism to more moderate tendencies.  Populist parties in the CEE countries, and in particular in the Slovak Republic, are characterized by the following features: opposition of the elite and the people based on moral grounds, desire to act as defenders of the people’s interests; anti-immigration, Eurosceptic, anti-globalization orientation of the messages; low level of institutionalization, etc. The main forms of manifestation of Slovak populism are determined: social, national, charismatic, centrist, far-right populism.

The article emphasizes that the key trend is the growth of populism in the election campaigns of Slovak parties and competition on the market of populist slogans. Protest calls, social demagoguery, and national populism are electorally perceptible issues that are being pursued by both the opposition and ruling political force. The parliamentary elections of 2020, which can be characterized as «triumph of populism», were an important stage for the development of the party system in Slovakia. The success of the populists and the defeat of the liberal parties in the 2020 elections testify to the crisis of systemic politics and democratic institutions in general, which poses risks to the stable development of Slovakia.