The Troubled Institutionalization of Parliamentary Democracy in Slovakia
The Troubled Institutionalization of Parliamentary Democracy in Slovakia

Summary/Abstract: The authors investigate the relationship between the institutional set up as defined by the Constitution and the dynamics of democratic consolidation in Slovakia. The rule of parliamentary majority between 1994 and 1998 in Slovakia was characterized by unrestricted imposition of its will and its disrespect for institutional limitations, which significantly jeopardized the position of parliamentary opposition and other constitutional actors. The outcome of this development was a regime of distorted parliamentarism which could not advance into a fully consolidated democracy. The authors see the reason for this deficiency in the lack of adequate stipulations in the Slovak Constitution by which an omnipotent parliamentary majority could be checked. After the 1998 parliamentary elections and the retreat of Mečiar’s government, the new parliamentary majority proposed and partly adopted constitutional reforms in order to correct those deficits. The institutional changes need to be broadly accepted and practiced by all main political actors in order to function effectively.

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