NATIONALIST POPULISM AND POST-COMMUNISM

large Hungarian minority living in its territory it still remained one of the most ethnically heterogeneous countries in Central and Eastern Europe. 75 3.2. Summarising the similarities and differences –

– historical, structural and political predispositions for the sustainability of nationalist populism

In general, there are a number of similarities and differences between Poland and Slovakia. However, the different ethnic structure makes Poland and Slovakia opposite examples. The presence of negative attitudes towards ethnic “others” in the Polish political discourse and the high mobilising potential of nationalist ideology is perhaps not entirely a result of deeply rooted nationalist sentiments and patterns of behaviour in the mass political culture. A more convincing explanatory factor could be the attractiveness of nationalist issues for the political elite. The same applies to the Slovak case. However, contrary to the case in Poland, the most negatively perceived ethnic “others” – the Hungarians – have continuously been present in the Slovak society and have played an important role on the domestic political scene. In light of the above, I would argue that the sustainability of ethnic prejudices and negative sentiments against ethnic “others” in the Polish and Slovak political discourses have been reproduced according to similar patterns, regardless of the physical presence of the “others” in the society. This assumption makes Poland and Slovakia interesting cases for a comparison. There are a number of intervening factors that have enabled the sustainability of nationalist populism in the Polish and Slovak political discourses. One of them is that both countries, regardless of their quite recent accession to the European Union, can still be characterised as unconsolidated democracies. In fact, they have well-designed democratic institutions that do not always correspond with the attitudes and patterns of behaviour of the prevailing majority of the population. As a result, the institutions tend not to work properly. Such a situation creates a favourable environment for those political actors who can instrumentalise prejudices against the “others” in their political language in a populist way. This is the assumption from which I will start my further analysis.

75 The Jews had played quite unique role in both societies. Historically, they had been perceived either as a religious group or a rich entrepreneurial class. This was partly due to the fact that until the creation of the state of Israel, they did not have any particular “motherland”. These characteristics made the Jews “others” of another kind, in both the Polish and Slovak societies.

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