NATIONALIST POPULISM AND POST-COMMUNISM

in the Slovak political discourse. On the other hand, anti-Czech attitudes and rhetoric were practically removed from the 2001 discourse. In this case, the split of Czechoslovakia and the following reconciliation in the Czech -Slovak relations could be an explanation. The answer to the question “Why the Hungarians?” cannot be answered without mentioning both historical and political reasons. The simple existence of numerous Hungarian minorities in the territory of Slovakia and its claims for minority rights can be considered as something that did not coincide with the state interests of the majority of the Slovak political parties and their leaders. The period of the second Mečiar government was characterised by a deterioration of minority rights, and international actors, including the European Union, criticised the government heavily for this. Although the situation changed after 1998, and the Party of Hungarian Coalition even became a part of the Dzurinda government, the feeling that the Hungarians wanted “too much” likely remained rooted in the attitudes of the ethnic Slovak leaders. On the other hand, the SMK leaders blamed their coalition partners for not respecting them as equal partners. The split in the governmental coalition was also obvious in regard to the policy of the government of Viktor Orbán, who was pursuing the idea of closer cooperation with the Hungarian minorities living in neighbouring countries. While for the SDKÚ, KDH and ANO, Orbán was considered to be a certain kind of enemy, for the SMK leadership he was one of their closest partners. In summary, when compared to the Polish case, it can be argued that the political elite in Slovakia had a physically present negative point of reference – the Hungarian minority – during the whole of the country’s transition period. According to the ethnically Slovak political leaders, the wide use of anti Hungarian attitudes and sentiments in the political discourse was legitimised by the negative performance of the SMK (or Spolužitie or MOS in the 1990s) and its leadership. In this regard, the political discourse in Slovakia has not changed significantly over time. On the other hand, it has to be underlined that despite the decreasing number of statements exploiting ethnic prejudices, ethnic principles and discrimination based on ethno-national exclusion also played a significant role in all three of the examined categories in the Polish discourse. 6.4. Nationalist populism in the Polish and Slovak political discourses: final remarks The goal of this study wasto contribute to the analysis of the political discourse – and political culture – of countries in transition. Both the cross country and cross-time comparisons pointed at continuities and changes in the political discourses of the two examined countries in order to reveal the

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