Political Entrepreneurs as a Challenge for the Party System in Slovakia
Political Entrepreneurs as a Challenge for the Party System in Slovakia

Summary/Abstract: This paper deals with the emergence and relevance of entrepreneurial parties in Slovakia. Its aim is to identify if the business-firm party model is an isolated phenomenon within the party system of the Slovak Republic, specific only for a certain segment of political parties, or if the business-firm practices are present also in the wider spectrum of parties, including those ‘program-based’ with the presence of the mechanisms of intraparty democracy. The main indicators followed by the article are the role of the party founders (leaders) after the parties enter the parliament, the organizational development of the parties and the role of party programs in the shaping of party identities. The paper brings an analysis of the penetration of business practices in Slovakia’s political parties, and brings a detailed analysis of particular entrepreneur parties, such as the Civic Understanding Party (SOP), Alliance of the New Citizen (ANO), Freedom and Solidarity (SaS), Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OĽaNO) and We Are Family – Boris Kollár. Increasing support to parties which fall under the business-firm model, as well as the penetration of entrepreneurial practices into the functioning of other political parties, provoked new political conflicts in Slovakia. These are interpreted by some politicians as a conflict between so called ‘standard’ and ‘non-standard’ parties. The business firm party model and practices are increasingly attractive for many newly emerging parties, but also for the older political ones. Successful parliamentary elections, and even participation in the government, doesn’t force the parties to establish territorial structures or to improve internal democratic mechanisms.

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