The Painful Birth of Slovak Democratic Political Culture
The Painful Birth of Slovak Democratic Political Culture

Summary/Abstract: The paper explores political culture in post-communist countries, particularly in Slovakia. It is based on a complementary perspective of several approaches - to avoid a single-factor explanation. The author argues that the final phase of democratic consolidation is the process whereby democratic institutions and practices become ingrained in the political culture. The concept of political culture refers to the set of informal adaptive postures that emerge in response to - and interact with - the set of formal (ideological, policy and institutional) definitions that characterize a given societal arrangement. The author suggests that the recent political development in Slovakia divides society and introduces two main groups of arguments exploring this fact from different points of view pertain to building a democracy governed by the Rule of Law, managing ethnic minority problems, establishing a market economy, determining foreign policy orientation and aiming to build institutions of civil society.

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