Contested Civic Spaces

Dancing on a Thin Ice: Civil Society in Slovakia

Boris Strečanský

1 Introduction

Civil society played an essential democratising and freedom-enhancing role in political and social life in pivotal moments in the recent history of Slovakia. It played its part in the Velvet Revolution in 1989. Its voice was present in the public sphere during the nineties when Slovakia struggled with authoritarian tendencies. It mobilised the public in critical moments of social and political life in defense of the rule of law principles, human and civil rights, and social justice. More recently, it responded to the growing state capture by oligarchic interest groups, corruption in the public sector, and penetration of organised crime with the public administration ...