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THE PHENOMENON OF STRONG POLITICAL LEADERSHIP EMBODIED IN SLOVAK PRIME MINISTERS - VLADIMIR MECIAR AND ROBERT FICO

M. Kluciarovsky, B. Kovacik

Abstract

The transformation process of the Slovak Republic from a socialist state into a democratic republic left scope and considerable potential for the creation and establishment of the charismatic leadership in terms of emerging young democracy. The development of Slovak political system after the fall of communism was the least linear in all the surrounding countries undergoing these transitions. The aim of this work will therefore mean serving an analysis of meciarism period and its main protagonist- Vladimir Meciar in Slovakia and look for parallels in the attributes of this specific phenomenon in the current political system and the integrity of Prime Minister Robert Fico. Our effort is not a comparison of individual mandate of these leaders in the executive branch of the country, but finding parallels in terms of political culture that persuaded citizens and thus the electorate to the devotion and support for political parties HZDS-Movement for a Democratic Slovakia SMER-Social Democracy not only in the past, but also in the current parliamentary term. We believe that the establishment and the development of the phenomenon of alike strong leadership is becoming an integral part of the political culture of some post-socialist countries that turned in young democracies. The personality of Vladimir Meciar was and remains once the most important, but also the most controversial in the history of independent Slovak statehood. Meciarism also accounts for a period called the era of hard and uncompromising policies, documented by a famous statement of this main representative: "The elections are over - get used to it". In a tranfered meaning this statement describes the period from 1990 to 1998 during which a fully apparent strength of the charismatic personality of Vladimir Meciar and seek to promote his own interests sheltered as his partyВґs view at the cost of tiny fine suppression of democratic rights and freedoms, or culminating political competition. In the political culture in Slovakia, however, it is possible to find a kind of natural tradition of trust and faith of the people in powerful political leaders. The name "Father of the Nation" earned Meciar from common people after the fall of communism when they saw a strong leader who would lead the nation in situation so requires direct use of force and the people would give them a sense of security and safety under stable leadership. That is why we have synthesized these phenomena in order to find a basic starting point for the re-birth of the "cult" of strong political personality in the form of leadership of Robert Fico, whose social-democratically oriented political party filled a vacancy on the party spectrum of HZDS gradual departure from the political scene. The phenomenon of "meciarism" reincarnated in the form of "ficism" increasingly resonating on the Slovak political as well as the media scene, on us to reflect its basic ideological resources that can attrackt potential voters of today.

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