One Slovak Family: Expanding Slovak Citizenship

Acta humanitarica academiae Saulensis, 2023

The aim of this paper is to disseminate partial results of the Europe for Citizens / Share EU-Shaping of the European citizenship in the post-totalitarian societies: Reflections after 15 years of European Union enlargement project. The project focuses on linking the educational process, historical memory, and social change 15 years after EU enlargement. Based on in-depth interviews, we have examined the transformation of Slovak society since the Velvet Revolution (1989) and joining EU (2004). The focus is given to the historical background that led to the change of a regime. The transformation to a democratic society resulted in the formation of a new Slovak identity, which was examined through Hofstede's cultural dimensions. Respondents provided facts, thoughts, and their views of living in Slovak society since these two significant milestones.

Springer eBooks, 2020

This chapter provides an overview of Slovak diaspora policies, by focusing on the main features and developments of policies in the area of cultural protection and identity building through education. It shows that the country's diaspora policy programs have given priority to educational and cultural engagement of ethnically defined Slovak nationals residing abroad. In particular, the chapter highlights how Slovakia's policies for citizens abroad are characterized by a focus on improving the knowledge of national culture and language of citizens abroad and are driven by symbolic ties between diaspora and homeland. 25.2 Diaspora Characteristics and Home Country Engagement The issue of Slovaks living abroad has never been discussed in detail in Slovakia. The approach towards Slovaks living abroad, both at institutional and noninstitutionalized levels, is influenced by the protection of the ethnicized Slovak primary group, no matter where Slovaks live and what is their recent citizenship status. Legal norms dealing with "foreign Slovaks" have been changed twice-after Hungary passed the Law on Hungarians living abroad (the so-called Status Law) in 2001 and after the country's entry into the European Union (EU) in 2004. Issues related to the diaspora were never widely discussed nor controversial at the national level. This is due to the essentialist consensus on the "natural connections" between

Citizenship Policies in the New Europe: Expanded and …, 2010

Common home publication. Migration and Development in Slovakia , 2019

Bulletin de l'Institut etnographique, 2019

The study examines migration of Slovaks to the Czech Lands since 1945 till present days. It focuses on migration waves in postwar decades according to results of population censuses, it also describes the numbers and territorial placement of Slovaks in Czechia and it characterizes their social, demographic and educational structure, as well as their activities and change of legal status after the split of Czechoslovakia in 1993. Slovaks are not original, autochthonous inhabitants of the Czech Lands, but they came there long time before the creation of the first Czechoslovak Republic in 1918. Their migration had mainly social and economic motives. Since the early 1990s qualitative changes in character of migration started to emerge, when social reasons were often replaced by familial ones. After the division of Czechoslovakia political motives appeared as well. In 1945-1992 Slovaks lived in the Czech Lands as members of the second state-forming nation of the Czechoslovak Republic. After the creation of the Czech Republic on January 1, 1993, their legal status changed and they became the most numerous minority starting to create a new identity. Thanks to activities of nationally-committed Slovak intelligentsia Slovaks in the Czech Republic started to reflect the benefits of their status of an ethnic minority in democratic society with guaranteed laws for development of their national life.

Človek a spoločnosť, 2021

The article is devoted to the study of national identity and ethnic minoritykin-nation relations, examined through the subjective lens of the Slovak minority youth from Hungary studying in the kin-state. Slovakia offers a government-funded scholarship programme for trans-border Slovak diasporas and autochthonous minorities, as part of the Slovak state policies towards Slovaks living abroad. The scholarship programme provides a framework in which ethnic minoritykin-nation relations are analysed, at an inter-personal and inter-group level. This framework has been chosen as a subject of study for 3 main reasons: 1) the field of education is considered by the Slovak government as one of the most prominent areas of kin-state engagement, 2) the Slovak community in Hungary relies heavily on the Slovak scholarship programme in developing the students' language competencies and professional skills, especially in the field of Humanities, i.e. in Pedagogy, especially, 3) the scholarship programme is also seen as an instrument facilitating a stronger connection to the Slovak nation and commitment towards Slovak identity; as a result of which students may consequently display a greater interest and engagement in the life of Slovaks in Hungary. The main objective of the research is to uncover the minority students' personal narratives and interpretations about their experience of encountering the kin-nation, and their reflections on their own national identity. The empirical research, furthermore, focused on analysing perceived group-belonging, and the connection points between the members of the Slovak minority in Hungary and the Slovaks in Slovakia. The research was carried out through 11 in-depth interviews with the scholarship recipients, studying in Slovakia in the period of 2016-2019, over at least 6 months. The research findingsaccording to which students reported hybrid [Slovak-Hungarian] national identityshow that respondents do not see nationality as a bounded, one dimensional category; their answers represented a wide variety of identification patterns, including the following combinations: ethnic Slovak+civic Hungarian, hybrid Local+civic Hungarian, civic Hungarian+European, ethnic Slovak+European, hybrid Local+European. Despite their multidimensional identity, minority students perceived that their environment often pressures them to choose between one of the two seemingly mutually exclusive national categories: being Slovak or Hungarian, in all social environments; in interactions with Slovaks from Slovakia, Hungarians from Slovakia, as well as Hungarians from Hungary. Although the length of the scholarship programme would provide space for the incorporation of various nationbuilding and community-building practices, these aspects of the programme until now are largely underdeveloped. Slovak minority students from Hungary upon their arrival to the kin-state realize that Slovaks in Slovakia have little knowledge about the existence of Slovak autochthonous minorities, which are generally not seen by their peers as integral parts of the Slovak nation. The perception of the Slovak students from Hungary becomes even more complex, as they are often mistaken to be ethnic Hungarians from Slovakia, and their minority situation is compared to them. The lack of knowledge about Slovaks in Hungary from the kin-nationals, however, did not result in the devaluation of the students' minority identity, but conversely, it led to a strengthened appreciation of the distinctiveness of the minority culture's features. In the case of Slovak youth from Hungary, connection points

Nuova Storia Contemporanea, 2022

After the end of WW II, Slovakia was reincorporated into Czechoslovakia. The fact that Slovaks lost their independent country and that a “people’s democratic regime” that violated basic human rights was established in the renewed Czechoslovakia conditioned the origin of the Slovak political diaspora. Its main goals were fighting against communism and for national independence. Immediately after the end of the war, not only the first exile organizations but also the American citizens of Slovak origin in the USA and Canada demanded that a plebiscite on the future existence of Slovakia be carried out. Given the emerging Cold War, the position of Slovak exiles was strongest in the USA, the center of world politics. In the 1950s, the U.S. governments supported the anticommunist efforts of Slovaks, but not their struggle for national independence. Dealing with the Slovak political émigrés goes hand in hand with a better knowledge of the Slovak question as well as a deeper understanding of the circumstances around the nascent Cold War.

Journal of Family History, 1994

During the past two decades most of the developed countries of Europe have witnessed changes in such family-related demographic phenomena as nuptiality, divorce, and fertility. For the time being, the Czech and Slovak Republics continue to exhibit patterns established earlier in history. Marriage is universal and is contracted at young ages. Children are born to young parents and at short childbirth intervals. The proportion of childless women is below ten percent, which is comparatively low. The eight percent of children born out of wedlock is comparatively low by European standards. Longitudinal indicators are characterized by great stability. As a result of recent profound political, social, and economic changes, it is reasonable to expect changes in demographic behavior as well. The first of these may be a marked decline in fertility along the lines already experienced by southern European countries.

Political and Economic Unrest in the Contemporary Era, 2019

The work focuses on the migration policy of Slovakia, its development and formation before and after the accession of the Slovak Republic to the European Union. The work is focused on the Europeanization of migration policy and on its formation and changes that have taken place in the European Union. The aim of the thesis is to analyse the development of migration policy before and after Slovakia has joined the European Union. At the same time, the work is trying to capture Slovakia’s migratory concept and its changes that have been brought into the EU, and to show a degree of Europeanization. The work focuses on the Europeanization of the migration policy of the Slovak Republic, pointing to the changes that have occurred after the accession to the transnational unit. In the process of migratory policy modernization, work focuses on the field of politics. The Council’s policy focuses on a specific legal regulation of migration policy in Slovakia. The accession of Slovakia to the European Union has required the application of various and, above all, fundamental changes in the field of migration policy. For this reason, it is possible to speak of Europeanization, using several theories of Europeanization in the work.

2019

FIGHTING THE (UN)HIDDEN "ENEMIES" OF THE SLOVAK SOCIETY he development of the Slovak LGBTI community's rights has faced a backlash in the recent years. According to the "Rainbow Europe 2016" (ILGA-Europe 2016) report, Slovakia has achieved only 29% of the overall score. Romana Schlesinger, a Slovak LGBTI activist and the executive director of the Queer Leaders Forum, characterised the situation as "the biggest backlash since the history of the Slovak Republic and the Velvet revolution" (personal communication, September 4, 2016). The backlash peaked in two key events-a change of the Slovak constitution & the Referendum for the Slovak family. In the 2014, two political parties united and agreed on an issue of strengthening the position of a marriage on the constitutional level. The change affected the Article 41 in which two sentences-"A marriage is a unique bond between a man and a woman. Slovak Republic protects marriage on all levels and help its goodness." (Ústava Slovenskej republiky 2015: 14, own translation)-were added. The proposal was drafted by the Christian-Democratic Movement (KDH), specifically driven forward by the party leader Ján Figeľ who believed that the implementation of this clause into the Slovak Constitution would protect family against external forces. KDH found an ally in the most represented party in the parliament, SMER-Social Democracy (SMER-SD). The proposed draft with the both its explanatory clauses and redefinition of the Article 41, was supported by 102 votes from 128 MP present that day in the parliament. The opposition criticised collaboration of these two parties. The Freedom & Solidarity party (SaS) described the move as selfish and populistic: the "real meaning and motive is not a protection of a traditional family, but a culture of hate spread by the SMER-SD and KDH driven by pure self-interest." (TASR, 2014, para. 21, own translation) The reason for this might be the fact that Róbert Fico, the leader of the SMER-SD and the current Prime Minister, was