Heading towards Collapse? Assessment of the Slovak Party System after the 2020 General Elections

Smolecová, Alexandra; Šárovec, Daniel

doi:10.34135/sjps.210102

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…The party development in Slovakia after 2020 general election confirms the system of moderate volatility (Smolecová, Šárovec, 2021), with governing populist party OĽaNO and ĽSNS in opposition, which represents far-right extremist party (Kluknavská, 2015). The 2020 parliamentary election only confirmed long-lasting periods of volatility (out of 8 political parties that entered parliament in 2016, 3 are not represented in the current parliament) and turbulent political change in recent years due to corruption scandals.…”

Section: Electoral Volatility In New Democracies Of Hungary and Slova...mentioning

confidence: 83%

Changing Patterns in Electoral Behaviour: Electoral Volatility in Hungary and Slovakia

Ondruška

2022

SJPS

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The aim of this paper is to update knowledge about voting patterns and electoral behaviour in Hungary and Slovakia based on data from the last elections in 2018 and 2020. Political studies of electoral behaviour across Central and Eastern Europe with new democracies established shortly after fall of authoritarian regimes have found several findings, unique for this area. One of them is a specific type of electoral volatility, typical for political systems which follow longer periods of authoritarian regime. This electoral volatility correlates with high party system instability with new parties emerging every electoral term and old political parties vanishing from political competition. While political scientists studied relationship between electoral volatility and increasing number of political parties, party switching presents considerable threat to stability of party system in CEE. Therefore, this paper studies socioeconomic, demographic, and value factors that determine a specific type of electoral behaviour. This study shows that certain voters’ characteristics increase the likelihood of voters’ behaviour and confirms their relevance in eradicating electoral volatility. The results of this article prove that while voters’ volatility is “natural” for Hungary and Slovakia, age, and education correlate with specific types of behaviour. Additionally, the main reason for abstaining from voting is minimal trust towards democratic principles.

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Section: Electoral Volatility In New Democracies Of Hungary and Slova...mentioning

confidence: 83%

Changing Patterns in Electoral Behaviour: Electoral Volatility in Hungary and Slovakia

Ondruška

2022

SJPS

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“…The data obtained from selected websites come from the period before the elections to the NRSR in 2020. In political science, various methods are used to measure the party system's dynamics to determine the intensity of changes and the trends arising from them (Smolecová, Šarovec, 2021). The research of the main elections to the legislature also has the highest degree of significance from the point of view of findings.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Potential of Using Websites for Communication of Political Parties: The Case of Slovakia Before the 2020 Elections

Šindleryová

Garaj

2022

SJPS

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Technological advances and the use of websites have become mandatory tool for any political entity trying to succeed in the competition for votes. The main objective of the study is to identify the level of effectiveness of political communication on the websites of selected political parties in Slovakia. The evaluation is based on the application of the framework for functionality and effectiveness of communication of political parties and their candidates on websites. According the framework applied, the partial objectives represent the identification of information flows on website in five different ways: from the bottom up, from the top down, horizontal, asynchronous and synchronous. A structured review of the research on the issue provides a basic perspective for identifying similarities, differences, challenges, and positives, as well as the possibility to carry out a comprehensive confrontation with the study’s findings. The analysis focuses on the environment of the Slovak Republic, looking at the example of eight selected political parties from the period of the last elections – 2020. The data collection used techniques according to the nature of the examined indicators set according to the framework. To evaluate the data, we apply basic statistical analyses with a comparative form of presentation. The findings demonstrate a medium to higher degree of effectiveness of the communication of selected political parties on the websites. The quality and scope of the information provided on websites is also currently related to the length of time in the party system, regardless length of representation in the parliament. According to study results the deficits primarily appear when providing answers to questions outside of published information, using an interactive form of content or more active cooperation with partner websites. The observed state of the selected cases demonstrates the one-way nature of the provision of information from the subject to the recipient.

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“…There are several ways of classifying ĽSNS and SNS. They could be designated as far right (Smolecová and Šárovec, 2021), radical right or even extreme right and in the case of ĽSNS also the national populist (Kukovič and Just, eds., 2022). This article embraces Mudde's (2007) term 'populist radical right'.…”

Section: The Populist Radical Right In Slovakiamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This means that ĽSNS challenges the current democratic system and would like to see alterations to it. Some other experts have labelled the party as a far-right (Smolecová and Šárovec, 2021) or ultra-nationalist and extremist party (Kukovič and Just, 2022). In the past, the ĽSNS party used to proclaim itself as a non-political actor (Žúborová and Borarosová, 2017), in line with the party´s populist self-identification with the 'pure people' against the 'corrupt elite'.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Populist Radical Right Parties and the Rhetoric of Emotions. The Slovak Case Study

Gazarek,

Uhrecký

2023

SJPS

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This article analyses the emotional rhetoric of the populist radical right parties in Slovakia - the Slovak National Party (SNS) and the People's Party Our Slovakia (ĽSNS) - in their 2016 and 2020 election manifestos. Emotional rhetoric, or pathos, consists of emotional appeals, and this article looks specifically at four discrete appeals to emotions: retrospective anger and enthusiasm; and prospective fear and hope, and connects these emotional appeals with topics according to their relevance. This research utilises qualitative content analysis drawing categories from the field of political psychology. Unexpectedly, it is found that positive emotional appeals are generally more common than negative ones in the election manifestos of the populist radical right. The second finding is that populist radical right parties with government experience apply a very different strategy in their emotional rhetoric. The more extreme ĽSNS, without government experience, relies more on the negative emotional appeal of anger, and SNS, with extensive government experience, relies on the positive emotional appeals of hope and enthusiasm. Furthermore, these cases confirm the hypothesis that a populist radical right party that uses more appeals to anger has greater success in general elections.

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Heading towards Collapse? Assessment of the Slovak Party System after the 2020 General Elections

Cited by 4 publications

References 33 publications

Changing Patterns in Electoral Behaviour: Electoral Volatility in Hungary and Slovakia

Changing Patterns in Electoral Behaviour: Electoral Volatility in Hungary and Slovakia

The Potential of Using Websites for Communication of Political Parties: The Case of Slovakia Before the 2020 Elections

Populist Radical Right Parties and the Rhetoric of Emotions. The Slovak Case Study

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