Slovakia. NIT 2005.
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| Year of publication | 2005 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
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| Description | In 15 years that have passed since the collapse of the communist regime in the former Czechoslovak federation, Slovakia saw radical societal changes. During the initial stage of transformation between 1990 and 1992, the country built the foundation of a democratic political regime and created favorable conditions for proper operation of the system of democratic institutions. In 1993, Czechoslovakia split up and the Slovak Republic became an independent country. The period of 1993 1998 was marked by an intense struggle over the countrys future democratic character. The authoritarian government consisting of nationalist and populist political forces attempted to concentrate the political and economic power and did everything it could to curb the space for a free democratic competition. Democratic deficits in its internal political development disqualified Slovakia from full-fledged participation in the process of Euro-Atlantic integration; the country was not included in the first wave of NATO enlargement and failed to comply with basic political criteria for launching entry negotiations with the European Union. The situation changed dramatically in 1998. Due to extraordinarily high level of civic mobilization, democratic political forces managed to win parliamentary elections and form a broad democratic ruling coalition that restored Slovakias integration chances and embarked on implementing necessary reforms in a number of areas (constitutional system, public administration, human and minority rights, and economy). The results of parliamentary elections in 2002 created favorable conditions for continuing in the positive course of implementing democratic and market reforms. The incumbent center-right administration launched implementation of vital sectional reforms in taxation, public finance, health service, education, social security and pension systems. Slovakia has closed the integration gap behind its Visegrad neighbors and successfully concluded accession negotiations with the EU. In a referendum held in May 2003, Slovak citizens endorsed their countrys accession to the EU and in May 2004, Slovakia became a full-fledged member of the EU. In April 2004, Slovakia joined NATO. 15 years after the fall of communism, the Slovak Republic is a country with a stable democratic political regime and functioning market economy. |
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