Nation before democracy? Placing the rise of the Slovak extreme right into context. Issue 4 (2nd October 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Harris, Erika
• Is Part Of: East European politics. Volume 35:Issue 4(2019)
• Page Start: 538
• Page End: 557
• Publication Date: 2019-10-02
• Subjects: Slovakia -- extreme right -- ethno-nationalism -- post-communism -- mainstream parties -- far right; Post-communism -- Periodicals; Europe, Eastern -- Politics and government -- Periodicals; 320.94705
• DOI: 10.1080/21599165.2019.1667770
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2159-9165

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Focusing on the People's Party Our Slovakia (ĽSNS), the article systematically explores the political environment in Slovakia in order to best explain the parliamentary breakthrough of this extreme right party that is hostile to representative democracy and is ideologically rooted in wartime authoritarianism. It is argued that the success of the ĽSNS ought to be viewed from the perspective of persistent ethno-nationalist trend in Slovak politics which runs through Slovakia's national development from precommunist times to the present. While migration crisis was an additional catalyst, ethno-centricism and illiberalism have a longer tradition in post-1989 Slovakia than the ĽSNS.