Post-Communism: will populism ensue?

“People tend to prefer apparently simple solutions. Faced with their personal problems, they can’t find the time to listen to in-depth explanations regarding a given problem, nor to the possible negative repercussions of a given option. They can’t understand that there is no simple answer to complex problems. That’s why populism is so widespread”, said political analyst Ivan Roncak, from the Slovakian office of Transparency International. This phenomenon is all the more evident in post-Communist countries, where older generations remember the “great promises” of social prosperity for the entire nation made by the regime. But they might no longer remember the consequences of those false promises… “That’s why they still tend to believe in the empty promises” of politicians, which strong support to populist parties, in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia alike, testifies to. Slovakia, “social” and “national” populism. Various political regimes contributed to the political development of Slovakia, starting in the first decades of the twentieth century with monarchy, followed by semi-authoritarianism, plural democracy, fascist totalitarianism; “national” limited democracy, Communist totalitarianism, and recently, the “rotation” of liberal and conservative democracy that began after 1990. Owing to their historical background, marked by the oppression of national Slovakian identity, contemporary citizens are increasingly attracted by “social and economic populisms”, represented by the party at the government, “SMER – Demokracia Sociálna” (Social-democracy), which enjoys the support of approximately 35% of all citizens. The doors seems to be generously open also to “national populism”, traditionally represented by Slovakia’s right-wing National Party, which every now and then plays the card of Hungarian minorities’ rights within the Slovakian national system and of the social integration of Roma groups. Moreover, political representatives were taken by surprise in November 2013, on the occasion of municipal and regional elections, when the leader of the “People’s Party Our Slovakia” (radical nationalist), Marián Kotleba, was elected governor of Banskà Bystrica, one of the key-regions in the Country, a politician whose strategy, he once said, consists in not being afraid of “patching things up with a thick thread”, which in concrete terms means placing national interests beyond “Brussels’ dictatorship”; replacing the euro with the Slovakian currency; relinquishing adhesion to “Nato’s criminal pact”; identifying “radical solutions” to the “Roma problem”. “The electoral result reflects the revolt of a consistent number of Slovakians towards SMER party, in the government coalition”, sociologists said, adding that Kotleba is in fact “the product of this government, as it built its rhetoric on the lack of solutions – whose roots are to be found in the distant past – and on severe regional and social divides”. It is worthwhile remembering that SMER currently occupies not only all government seats but also the majority of parliament seats, and that its leader Robert Fico looks forward to presidential elections, scheduled for the coming March. Moreover, “the shock of the regional victory of Kotleba may represent a thrust for the reawakening of politicians from all political groups and for a reflection on their attitude vis a vis the public sphere”, said political analyst Martin Klus. Czech Republic, the burden of money. The fact that voters are loosing their patience is evident also in the neighbouring Czech Republic. Recent political developments and stability have been tarnished by serious scandals that involved some of the Country’s highest representatives – notably former Prime Minister Petr Neèas (Civic Democratic Party – right-wing) -causing the government’s fall last year. Early elections were expected to bring about the recovery of a shift to the political left, but the new scenario took everyone by surprise. Social Democrats, the majority party in parliament, gained over 20% of votes, (the lowest percentage in the history of independent Czech Republic). But it was an illusionary success given the impact of a newly created political party: the anti-corruption movement Ano2011, led by food industry tycoon Andrej Babiš, a party whose political opponents and political analysts described as a “strongly populist party”. During the political campaign, Ano2011 emerged from extra-parliamentary darkness and conquered a main role, with 18,7% of all votes, thereby becoming the second most popular party at national level from one day to the next. “Elections were won with few ideas and a lot of money”, the media remarked. According to experts, this development reflects an all-embracing model that it worming its way through across central and Eastern Europe. In this region, social-democratic parties have fought a long battle until they finally managed to set up wide electoral coalitions, thereby thwarting the growth of their new populist opponents represented by “anti-political” figures ranging from aristocrats to businessmen, with a strong presence of radical nationalist parties. Bearing in mind that also those parties that draw inspiration from the principles of social democracies tend to support populist stances, the future of the Czech Republic envisages a derby between “soft” and “extremist” populism.