Open Society Institute-Sofia and The Red House Center for culture
and debate present the seventh lecture of "Crisis in Central
Europe" cycle:
Post-Accession Slovakia: Cohabitation
of Populists and Liberal Democracy
public lecture by Grigorij Meseynikov (Institute for Public
Affairs (IVO), Slovakia)
More information for the lecture
In his public lecture in Sofia Dr. Meseznikov will explore the
impact of populist parties on the state of society and the democratic
institutions in Slovakia. In the last almost 18 years he has
observed the societal transformations in Slovakia, and according
to him populist parties and other players have enjoyed enough
popular support and have been able to take dominant position
in the governments of the country. In the period prior to country’s
NATO and EU membership, it was only the active resistance on
the part of the pro-democratic civil society, which has kept
the country from subverting the liberal-democratic political
order there. Thanks to Slovakia’s full-fledged EU membership,
the system of democratic institutions is now much more consolidated;
the populists do not openly question democratic rules and their
immediate participation in government does not threaten to undermine
the liberal democratic regime. Not a single ruling party currently
in power in Slovakia is an anti-system party with ambitions
to dismantle the liberal democratic regime. Still, Meseznikov
warns, the values preferred by populist parties currently in
power (i.e. etatism, clientelism and ethnic nationalism) may
erode the foundations of the liberal democratic regime, particularly
in the field of public administration, self-governance, free
market mechanisms, ethnic minorities and foreign policy.
More information for the lecturer
Grigorij Meseynikov is one of the most influential political
analysts and political scientists in Slovakia, co-founder and
director of the prominent Institute for Public Affairs in Bratislava
(www.ivo.sk). He has closely followed the political processes
and the democratic changes in post-communist Slovakia. His essays
and papers on Slovak politics and the development of the political
parties there appear in the most prestigious scholarly journals
in Europe and USA. A regularly contributor to the international
and national press and electronic media, he is the author and
co-editor of a series of reports and studies on the politics
and society in Slovakia, among which are “Slovakia (1995-2003)
A Global Report on the State of Society”, “Slovak Elections.
Results, Consequences”, “Elections 2002. Analysis of Election
Programs of Political Parties and Movements” , “The Vision of
the Development of the Slovak Republic until 2020”, “Ideological
(Dis-)Continuity as a Factor of the Formation of the Party System
in Slovakia.”
In English, with interpretation in Bulgarian.
March 21 (Friday) 2008, 6.30 p.m.
Red hall
Tickets: 2/1 ëâ.
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