This article demonstrates that the EU’s multiple economic crises have not shifted the main politi... more This article demonstrates that the EU’s multiple economic crises have not shifted the main political trajectories in Slovakia. Despite a severe impact on the labor market, the crises themselves have neither triggered strong anti-EU sentiments nor led to an upsurge of social unrest or anti-EU populist politics. We argue that differentiated Europeanization and instrumental socialization based solely on strategic calculation, together with the elites’ narrow focus on fiscal governance, have recently prompted anti-EU attitudes, undermined citizens’ trust, and further weakened the quality of democracy. In sum, the Slovak case suggests that it is the inadequate elite response to the crisis, rather than the economic crisis itself, that has decreased democratic legitimation (Habermas 1975).
This chapter is concerned with the way in which ministers in Central Eastern Europe view their re... more This chapter is concerned with the way in which ministers in Central Eastern Europe view their relationship with civil servants. The relationship between ‘politicians’ and ‘administrators’ has been controversial in many countries across the world and has even led to the suggestion that civil servants may subvert democracy and assume power. Public administration specialists have indeed advanced different models of what the relationship can be. Thus, Peters and Pierre suggest that the relationship between civil servants and politicians may be studied under two different perspectives — namely, the ‘(self-described) roles of politicians and civil servants’, on the one hand, and ‘the effects of systematic factors on relationships within the public sector’, on the other (Peters and Pierre 2001: 3). The first approach was put forward by Aberbach, Putnam and Rockman (1981) in their empirical study of bureaucrats while the latter approach is associated with the work of Peters (1986). Both approaches focus on the relative power of politicians and civil servants in policymaking processes and they are both concerned with the development of a professional and politically neutral administration.
The Eastern Enlargement of the European Union: Challenges to Democracy?Recent scholarship assesse... more The Eastern Enlargement of the European Union: Challenges to Democracy?Recent scholarship assesses the impact of the European Union's conditionality on democracy in Central and Eastern Europe in a contradictory way. On one hand, the EU is perceived as a key agent of successful democratic consolidation and on other hand, the return of nationalist and populist politics in new member states has been explored in the context of the negative consequences of the hasty accession that undermined government accountability and constrained public debate over policy alternatives. This article explains this puzzle of the ambiguous effects of the EU's politics of conditionality, which promoted institutions stabilizing the horizontal division of powers, rule of law, human and minority rights protection, but which neglected norms and rules of participatory and/or popular democracy.
Opportunities and Challenges for New and Peripheral Political Science Communities
The chapter examines the challenges that six Central European Democracies (Bulgaria, the Czech Re... more The chapter examines the challenges that six Central European Democracies (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia) have faced in the development of political science during the last three decades. We argue that political science as a new social science has gone through many structural reforms: it has acquired a relatively well-institutionalised position, gained autonomy and managed to form its identity. Nevertheless, its position is endangered by the erosion of its legitimacy.In this chapter, we show that political science as a new social science in the Central and Eastern Europe region has acquired a relatively stable position. The discipline has gained autonomy and managed to form its own identity, and has shown a capacity to cope with several challenges that have arisen. However, some of the structural reforms, including the commodification of higher education and the proliferation of political science at universities and other teaching institutions, ...
International Issues & Slovak Foreign Policy Affairs, 2007
Summary: Previous explorations into the national preference formation of member states have gener... more Summary: Previous explorations into the national preference formation of member states have generated a number of different explanations including size, societal interests, dependency, ideology and unique historical experiences. Although acknowledging that ...
Civil Society, Social Movements, Mobilisation and Protest in Slovakia This study examines the eme... more Civil Society, Social Movements, Mobilisation and Protest in Slovakia This study examines the emergence of two social movements as an integral part of revival of civil society in Slovakia. It analyzes patterns of mobilization and protests of “Slovak National Movement” (SNM) and the „Democratic and European Movement“ (DEM), based on the civic campaign in 1998. SNM relates to the set of organized groups loosely linked with the national agenda at the beginning of 1990s’ in Slovakia. It argues that both movements are genuine parts of civil society in Slovakia, analytically defined as the realm of organized public sphere that is voluntary, largely selfsupporting, autonomous from the state, politics and private sphere and bound by a legal order or set of shared rules. The article defines conditions under which social movements can emerged during transition to democracy. It analyzes “civil society in action” and aims to discuss the patterns of successful mobilization. Sociológia 2008, Vol....
Summary The authors investigate the relationship between the institutional set up as defined by t... more Summary 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 Meciar’s government, the new parliamentary majority proposed and partly adopted constitutional reforms in order to correct those deficits. The institutional changes need to be ...
An Ecological Analysis of the 2012 Parliamentary and the 2014 Presidential Elections in Slovakia:... more An Ecological Analysis of the 2012 Parliamentary and the 2014 Presidential Elections in Slovakia: Potentials and Limits of Structural Explanations. This study addresses the often debated importance of structure for explaining voting behavior and cleavage formation in post-communist countries. Based on ecological analysis this study applies multivariate regression analysis (MRA) to test the possibilities and limits of structure in explaining the results of the 2012 parliamentary elections and 2014 presidential elections in Slovakia. The study reveals the high importance of general structure compared to findings in Western Europe, as all tested structural factors together explain from 46 to 77 per cent of electoral variation for the parliamentary election and from 25 to almost 99 per cent of the presidential candidates’ support. MRA confirms some findings from previous research, e.g. the significance of ethnicity and the rural-urban divide. However our model does not confirm the stren...
This article demonstrates that the EU’s multiple economic crises have not shifted the main politi... more This article demonstrates that the EU’s multiple economic crises have not shifted the main political trajectories in Slovakia. Despite a severe impact on the labor market, the crises themselves have neither triggered strong anti-EU sentiments nor led to an upsurge of social unrest or anti-EU populist politics. We argue that differentiated Europeanization and instrumental socialization based solely on strategic calculation, together with the elites’ narrow focus on fiscal governance, have recently prompted anti-EU attitudes, undermined citizens’ trust, and further weakened the quality of democracy. In sum, the Slovak case suggests that it is the inadequate elite response to the crisis, rather than the economic crisis itself, that has decreased democratic legitimation (Habermas 1975).
This chapter is concerned with the way in which ministers in Central Eastern Europe view their re... more This chapter is concerned with the way in which ministers in Central Eastern Europe view their relationship with civil servants. The relationship between ‘politicians’ and ‘administrators’ has been controversial in many countries across the world and has even led to the suggestion that civil servants may subvert democracy and assume power. Public administration specialists have indeed advanced different models of what the relationship can be. Thus, Peters and Pierre suggest that the relationship between civil servants and politicians may be studied under two different perspectives — namely, the ‘(self-described) roles of politicians and civil servants’, on the one hand, and ‘the effects of systematic factors on relationships within the public sector’, on the other (Peters and Pierre 2001: 3). The first approach was put forward by Aberbach, Putnam and Rockman (1981) in their empirical study of bureaucrats while the latter approach is associated with the work of Peters (1986). Both approaches focus on the relative power of politicians and civil servants in policymaking processes and they are both concerned with the development of a professional and politically neutral administration.
The Eastern Enlargement of the European Union: Challenges to Democracy?Recent scholarship assesse... more The Eastern Enlargement of the European Union: Challenges to Democracy?Recent scholarship assesses the impact of the European Union's conditionality on democracy in Central and Eastern Europe in a contradictory way. On one hand, the EU is perceived as a key agent of successful democratic consolidation and on other hand, the return of nationalist and populist politics in new member states has been explored in the context of the negative consequences of the hasty accession that undermined government accountability and constrained public debate over policy alternatives. This article explains this puzzle of the ambiguous effects of the EU's politics of conditionality, which promoted institutions stabilizing the horizontal division of powers, rule of law, human and minority rights protection, but which neglected norms and rules of participatory and/or popular democracy.
Opportunities and Challenges for New and Peripheral Political Science Communities
The chapter examines the challenges that six Central European Democracies (Bulgaria, the Czech Re... more The chapter examines the challenges that six Central European Democracies (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia) have faced in the development of political science during the last three decades. We argue that political science as a new social science has gone through many structural reforms: it has acquired a relatively well-institutionalised position, gained autonomy and managed to form its identity. Nevertheless, its position is endangered by the erosion of its legitimacy.In this chapter, we show that political science as a new social science in the Central and Eastern Europe region has acquired a relatively stable position. The discipline has gained autonomy and managed to form its own identity, and has shown a capacity to cope with several challenges that have arisen. However, some of the structural reforms, including the commodification of higher education and the proliferation of political science at universities and other teaching institutions, ...
International Issues & Slovak Foreign Policy Affairs, 2007
Summary: Previous explorations into the national preference formation of member states have gener... more Summary: Previous explorations into the national preference formation of member states have generated a number of different explanations including size, societal interests, dependency, ideology and unique historical experiences. Although acknowledging that ...
Civil Society, Social Movements, Mobilisation and Protest in Slovakia This study examines the eme... more Civil Society, Social Movements, Mobilisation and Protest in Slovakia This study examines the emergence of two social movements as an integral part of revival of civil society in Slovakia. It analyzes patterns of mobilization and protests of “Slovak National Movement” (SNM) and the „Democratic and European Movement“ (DEM), based on the civic campaign in 1998. SNM relates to the set of organized groups loosely linked with the national agenda at the beginning of 1990s’ in Slovakia. It argues that both movements are genuine parts of civil society in Slovakia, analytically defined as the realm of organized public sphere that is voluntary, largely selfsupporting, autonomous from the state, politics and private sphere and bound by a legal order or set of shared rules. The article defines conditions under which social movements can emerged during transition to democracy. It analyzes “civil society in action” and aims to discuss the patterns of successful mobilization. Sociológia 2008, Vol....
Summary The authors investigate the relationship between the institutional set up as defined by t... more Summary 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 Meciar’s government, the new parliamentary majority proposed and partly adopted constitutional reforms in order to correct those deficits. The institutional changes need to be ...
An Ecological Analysis of the 2012 Parliamentary and the 2014 Presidential Elections in Slovakia:... more An Ecological Analysis of the 2012 Parliamentary and the 2014 Presidential Elections in Slovakia: Potentials and Limits of Structural Explanations. This study addresses the often debated importance of structure for explaining voting behavior and cleavage formation in post-communist countries. Based on ecological analysis this study applies multivariate regression analysis (MRA) to test the possibilities and limits of structure in explaining the results of the 2012 parliamentary elections and 2014 presidential elections in Slovakia. The study reveals the high importance of general structure compared to findings in Western Europe, as all tested structural factors together explain from 46 to 77 per cent of electoral variation for the parliamentary election and from 25 to almost 99 per cent of the presidential candidates’ support. MRA confirms some findings from previous research, e.g. the significance of ethnicity and the rural-urban divide. However our model does not confirm the stren...
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Papers by Darina Malová