Zhodnotenie vzťahu medzi nacionalizmom a demokraciou v postkomunistických spoločnostiach: slovenský a slovinský pohľad
Assessing the Compatibility Between Nationalism and Democracy in Post Communist Societies: Some Perspectives from Slovakia and Slovenia

Summary/Abstract: Assessing the Compatibility Between Nationalism and Democracy in Post Communist Societies: Some Perspectives from Slovakia and Slovenia. This article is concerned with the relationship between nationalism and democracy in a particular setting - postcommunist newly independent democracies. The purpose is to seek an answer to two related questions about what is the role of nationalism in the democratisation process and under which conditions is nationalism more or less compatible with the democratisation process. The article argues that the role of nationalism in that process cannot be generalised and constitutes a complex process in itself, conditioned by the political context of the society undergoing the transition. The political context is viewed as an aggregate of factors, contributing to and determining the equilibrium between nationalism and democracy, such as the stage of national development, the conditions and circumstances surrounding the achievement of independent statehood, the previous regime and the period prior to that, the formation of transitional elites and the stage in the transition, and the issues of the ethnic composition and consonance within the state. Nationalism’s capacity to threaten minorities, fragment states and complicate interethnic and interstate relations has been amply demonstrated and documented. Here, the aim is to shed light on nationalism as an integral part of the democratisation process, theoretically and empirically; the latter through the exploration of two case studies, Slovakia and Slovenia as two newly independent postcommunist states that emerged as a result of democratisation. Nationalism in the context of this article is viewed as a political force which tries to distribute power relations within the state through the articulation and promotion of political aims in the name of and on behalf of a nation, or national group, (i.e. majority or minority),with its main goal being the safeguarding of the unity, identity and autonomy of that group. It is proposed that nationalism has a tendency towards the appropriation of state power by the dominant majority and thus undermines state-building, a fact gaining in relevance in multinational states and that since it is democratisation itself that facilitates the increase in nationalist mobilisation, democracy is better served by a lesser emphasis on national identity. This last point is even more pertinent in the newly independent states engaged simultaneously in nation-building and state-building. Assuming that national identity is an important facet of people’s existence and therefore relevant to democratic politics, the resolution between nationalism and democracy depends greatly on how anti-democratic elements of nationalism can be reduced to such an extent that the transition to democracy does not get overshadowed by the consolidation of the national rather than political community. Sociológia 1999, Vol. 31 (No. 6: 587-601)

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