NATIONALIST POPULISM AND POST-COMMUNISM

by the fact that instead of appealing to the citizens of Poland or Slovakia, they addressed their statements to the “Poles” or “Slovaks”. The political leaders often highlighted the positive characteristics of their respective nations and liked to refer to the historical achievements of national heroes. Especially popular was the connection between the glorious past and the bright future of the nation. However, by the embodiment of the nation in their statements and appeals, the political elite proved that they were thinking in ethnic categories. Not only this – by the positive presentation of their respective ethnic groups they pushed other groups into unfavourable or even subordinate positions. Therefore, all the statements mentioned in this category can be considered to be an integral part of the nationalist populist discourse. Statements highlighting economic nationalism The populist exploitation of economic nationalism remained a widely used instrument for the mobilisation of political supporters, both in Poland and Slovakia. The troublesome economic transformation and changes of ownership rights allowed the political elite – usually those in the opposition – to spread nationalist populist appeals against the “others”. In many such appeals, the economic “others” were accused of being responsible for increasing unemployment and the sell out of national property. In the case of the latter, land ownership turned out be an important indicator of the pro-nation policies of particular parties. The question of land ownership was an extraordinary sensitive issue in connection with two particular regions – Western Poland and Southern Slovakia. The exaggeration of the German and Hungarian threat, together with criticism of the lack of support for domestic owners and producers, can be mentioned as other important issues characterising the political discourse on economic issues. Moreover, as can be seen in the Polish case, any attempts of the government to meet the requirements of the EU concerning free movement of capital or transition periods were considered as dangerous for the nation by a significant part of the political parties. Appeals stressing ethnic prejudice and animosity toward “others” Although the most important ethnic “others” are different in the case of Poland and Slovakia, the patterns of using nationalist populist appeals were similar in both countries. This means that the Germans were presented in the Polish political discourse similarly to the Hungarians in the Slovak case. Such a similarity might be explained by similar patterns in the reproduction of nationalist symbols and appeals in Poland and Slovakia, and points at the efforts of the political elite in both countries to maintain the ethnic “others” as a negative point of reference in the political discourse. As mentioned above, the primary purpose of using nationalist populist appeals is not to further the national

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