| SMER-SD AND FIDESZ: THE NATIONAL INTERESTS AND POPULISM IN THE 2010 PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS |
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Peter Horváth, Jaroslav Mihálik Abstract
The paper explores two major political parties, FIDESZ in Hungary and SMER-SD in Slovakia and their success in the latest parliamentary elections from the comparative perspective.
The year 2010 was known as the elections´ year in the region of Central Europe. Apart from the possible changes of the governing elites there is a specific pressure in the communication strategies to strengthen the national issues and questions related to common history of the former post-war period when the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy dissolved and new sovereign states were created. Thus, the central concepts are not to fight the economic crisis, to improve the social status of citizens, unemployment, but the protection of national interests, historical grievances and its violent removal through the prism of electoral populism. It seems that the political elites are moving backwards in time and do not reflect the real existing needs of the citizens they govern. Although both countries are members of the EU and NATO, elections in April and June 2010 do not create proper conditions for good relations between these two countries.
Key words: parliamentary elections, populism, nationalism, Fidesz, Smer – SD
Director of the Institute of Social Sciences, University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius, Trnava, Slovakia Assistant lecturer at UCM Trnava; Ph.D. candidate at Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences at Commenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia
Cite this article: Digital Object Identifier(DOI): http://dx.doi.org/10.12959/issn.1855-0541.IIASS-2011-no2-art02 View full text in pdf: http://www.iiass.com/pdf/IIASS-2011-no2-art02.pdf |
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