Introduction

Political development in Central European countries took a peculiar turn after their accession to the European Union in 2004 but especially after a series of national elections in 2005 and 2006. They put in driver's seat politicians whose mode of expression, style of pursuing political goals and attitude to political opponents was - to say the least - unusual for suave politicians from Western European saloons. Analysts, journalists and civic activists openly began to speak of the rise of new populism. The new phenomenon was examined thoroughly; countless publications were issued on the topic, various conferences, seminars, workshops and discussions were organized focusing on populism, its theoretical foundation, its methodological grasping, its modus operandi and its impact on voters.

The present publication is one of the outputs of a project titled Challenging National Populism and Promoting Interethnic Tolerance and Understanding in Slovakia that was carried out by the Forum Institute for Minority Research in Šamorín. Its main goal was not to make just another contribution to the theoretical discourse for we believe that the phenomenon of populism has been relatively thoroughly described by a great number of authors. A partial list of their works is included in the bibliography at the end of this publication.

The principal ambition of the collective of authors of this book was rather to examine a specific form of populism that is frequently referred to as national populism. In Slovakia, the nationalist scion of populism emerged in the mid-1990s and was closely related to the name Vladimír Mečiar. In his study that forms part of this publication, Peter Učeň poignantly defined what was at the heart of the new type of populism. What is relevant from the perspective of our approach is that Vladimír Mečiar managed to convince a critical mass of the Slovak electorate that he was the best safeguard able to protect Slovakia (and the Slovak nation) against the triple threat of national doom: first, against the Czechs regarding the constitutional model of the dying Czechoslovak federation and just division of its common goods; second, against the Hungarians regarding Slovakia's territorial integrity and political sovereignty and elimination of discrimination against Slovaks on ethnically mixed territories; finally, against multinational corporations, international institutions and all capitalists from abroad who in conspiracy with ethnic Hungarians and other internal enemies of the state (i.e. political opposition and non- governmental organizations) tried to undermine economy, security and political independence of the young and fragile Slovak Republic. Such a self-created image of the nation's saviour from the threefold peril served him as a disguise for an uncompromising, sometimes even merciless exploitation of political and economic interests.

After the parliamentary elections of 2006 brought to power the ruling coalition of SMER-SD - SNS - LS-HZDS, many analysts gained an im - pression that Slovakia was again embracing national populism as the key vehicle of political campaigning and rivalry we remember from the 1990s. Is it truly so, or are we dealing with some 'softer' and harmless version of national populism that produces smoke rather than fire?

The Slovaks eventually parted with the Czechs and today it seems that their mutual relations have become stabilized and actually better than in the time of federation; however, the two remaining constituents of the national- populist message continue to be strongly present in the country's political discourse. Multinational corporations and 'evil' capitalists from abroad along with the 'internal enemy' - i.e. ethnic Hungarians, journalists, political opponents and non-governmental organizations - continue to undermine the internal integrity and external security of the state. Or so it would appear judging from the excessively tense rhetoric of Slovak government officials.

What are the chances of eliminating the last remaining items of the national-populist arsenal in Slovakia? We believe that one of viable paths to tackling the issue is a much more active approach of the democratic political elite, including civil society activists, to issues of Slovak-Hungarian reconciliation and understanding and the status of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia. These issues come always handy when incumbent administration's officials need to divert attention of the general public from key issues, such as Slovakia's future development, handling of public funds, prevalence of corruption, or moral impeccability of public figures. We also believe it makes a world of difference whether ten percent of the population who happen to be members of the Hungarian minority feel at home in Slovakia or whether the government treats them as an alien element, as the Fifth Column that is abused by Hungarian politicians to undermine the state's sovereignty.

We do not share the view of some members of Slovakia's democratic intellectual elite that national populists must first be defeated by other weapons, such as exposing their hypocrisy, corruptness and incompetence. Unfortunately, we are convinced that the critical mass of Slovak voters perceives the problem in the following way: these guys may well be a bunch of corrupt thieves, too, but they at least defend our national interests. That is why we sincerely believe that the current situation cannot and will not improve in the long term without a massive information campaign exposing the actual status quo of ethnic and minority issues in Slovakia, which includes promoting multicultural education in schools and emphasizing intercultural dimension of the public service media's performance.

Therefore, this publication features not only theoretical treatises but mostly analyses of such aspects of the issue that may be helpful when seeking practical measures aimed at generally improving interethnic relations in Slovakia. Although it focuses primarily on Slovak-Hungarian relations, only a fool fails to see that escalated tensions between the majority population and the Roma or - if we choose to make the forecast even trickier - im - migrants and members of other cultures may cause much greater problems in the future. Before it happens, it is extremely important that Slovak and Hungarian democrats face the issue of their mutual relations like men because it will no doubt make them better equipped for tackling future challenges together.

Kálmán Petőcz