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History and Government
History: Throughout its history, the Slovak Republic has been overshadowed and sometimes dominated by a succession of foreign powers, including Hungary, Germany, the Soviet Union and, most recently, the Czech Republic. The separation of Czechoslovakia into its constituent parts – the Czech and Slovak Republics – on 1 January 1993 was one of the rare occasions in history that two nations have accomplished this peacefully. It also marked the emergence of an independent and sovereign Slovak nation for the first time. The Republic’s essentially Slavic identity dates back to the fifth and sixth centuries AD when Slav peoples settled in the middle Danube region. There, they were effectively on the front line in confronting several attempted invasions by peoples from Central Asia. The ninth century was a relatively peaceful period, which saw the conversion of the Slav population to Christianity (and consequent alliance with Rome) and the establishment of the first Slav empire under King Ratislav and then King Svätopluk. The latter’s death in 894 was quickly followed by the first of a series of incursions by marauding, nomadic Magyar tribes.
Over the course of the tenth century, these tribes gradually settled in the region and created an embryonic Hungarian state which adopted many of the systems and structures of its predecessor. Slovakia’s mineral deposits made it the richest part of the Hungarian empire and the region prospered, especially during the 13th and 14th centuries. This period came to an end after the Hungarians suffered a major military defeat in 1526 at the Battle of Mohacs at the hands of the Ottoman Turks, who promptly dismembered the empire. Slovakia, however, was able to resist the Ottoman occupation and allied itself with the Austrian Hapsburg monarchy. Between 1526 and 1784, the Slovak capital Bratislava (known to the Hapsburgs as Pressburg) was nominated capital of the ‘Kingdom of Hungary’ and over a dozen Hapsburg monarchs were crowned in the city.
Throughout this period, until the final expulsion of the Ottoman Turks from Central Europe in 1786, Slovakia was once again on the front line of the struggle between rival empires. But the Slovaks were still under the effective control of the Austro-Hungarian empire. The first nationalist movements – which have since become a recurring feature of Slovak history – had started to emerge in the late 18th century and continued to grow during the 19th century. One of the most potent of these was led by Ludovit Stur and Andrej Hlinka (whose name was adopted by the Slovak World War II fascist movement, the Hlinka Guard). The Slovak struggle for independence from Austria and Hungary suffered a setback in 1867 when Austria agreed to give the Hungarians free rein within its territories, and a period of Magyarisation of the region followed. This period, in particular, is the cause of deep-seated anti-Magyar feeling in Slovakia which persists in some quarters today. With the end of World War I and the Austro-Hungarian Empire came the birth of Czechoslovakia, founded by Tomas Masaryk, the country’s first President, aided by Milan Rastislav Štefánik, and an age of prosperity that lasted until 1938 and the advent of Nazism.
A dark period followed, in which the country was effectively under German control. In 1948 the Slovaks voted for a democratic government which was aborted when Slovakia was grouped together with its Czech neighbours after the Yalta agreement between the world’s superpowers. Another defining moment took place in 1968 when Alexander Dubcek (then leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia) introduced the policy known as ‘socialism with a human face’ that ended with the Prague Spring and the crushing of the reformist movement by the Soviet army. The period of ‘normalisation’ under democratic socialism finally gave way to democratic reforms in November 1989.
This led to the appointment of Václav Havel as President while the country set about introducing a pluralistic political system and a market economy. While appreciating the new opportunities offered by the post-Soviet order, the Slovaks were worried – mainly for economic reasons – about the crash liberalisation programme planned by Havel and his finance minister, Václav Klaus. After two years of negotiations (following the first democratic elections of June 1990) between the two republican governments, the population voted for the ‘sovereignty association’ platform proposed by the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (Hnutie za Demokratice Slovensko, HZDS) led by Vladimir Meciar. The HZDS was by now the dominant force in Slovak politics: in the second national election, held in June 1992 specifically over the issue of separation, the HZDS polled 37 per cent nationally, gaining the lion’s share in the Slovak region. On 1 January, 1993, the two nations parted amicably.
The following month, the former speaker of the Czechoslovak parliament, Michal Kovac, was chosen by the country’s new parliament, the National Council (Narodna Rada), to take over the post of President. The party leader, Meciar, continued as Prime Minister at the head of an HZDS-dominated government dominated by the HZDS. From then until the expiry of president Kovac’s term of office in March 1998, Slovak politics were dominated by the feud between these two dominant political figures.
Meciar was much lauded at the time as the principal architect of Slovakian nationhood. However, he was not a natural democrat, and his use of state agencies to suppress opponents and blatant tolerance of organised crime provoked strong international criticism. Nor was Meciar enthusiastic about the economic reforms which were equally essential to any EU aspiration. The struggle between Meciar and Kovac, as a pro-European, pro-NATO liberal, reached extraordinary levels. However, it finally came to an end in 1998, when Kovac’s term of office ended and Meciar’s HZDS was excluded from power by a multi-party coalition – set up specifically for the purpose – which won the national elections in September that year. Meciar himself lost the next presidential poll, held in May 1999, to Rudolf Schuster of the small centrist Party of Civic Understanding (part of the ruling parliamentary coalition). Meciar tried to stage a comeback at the most recent parliamentary election held in September 2002. The outcome was critical: the main power-brokers of the EU had made it clear to the Slovakians that Meciar’s return to office would scupper Slovakia’s chances of joining the EU. In the event, the poll closely mirrored the outcome of the 1998 parliamentary election; premier Mikulas Dzurinda continues in office.
Under Schuster and Dzurinda, Slovakia made up for lost time, embarking on an economic reform programme and accelerating membership negotiations with the EU. By the end of 2002 Slovakia had met almost all the conditions required for membership and will almost certainly be joining the Union, along with nine other countries – including most of its immediate neighbours – in 2004. It also hopes to join NATO within a few years. Meciar has managed to survive various corruption and abuse of power charges, and the HZDS remains the country’s largest single political party.
Government: The Slovak Republic ratified its first national constitution in September 1992, having agreed to all of the existing treaties and obligations of the former republic. Under its terms, executive power lies with the Prime Minister and ministers, the first being appointed by the President, who in turn is selected by the National Council. This is the country’s supreme legislative body, which has 150 seats and is directly elected for a four-year term. The President is elected for a five-year term.
Copyright © 2003 Columbus Publishing Ltd.
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