Assessing the compatibility between nationalism and democracy in post communist societies: Some perspectives from Slovakia and Slovenia

This article is concerned with the relationship between nationalism and dem ocracy in a particular setting - postcommunist newly independent democracie s. The purpose is to seek an answer to two related questions about what is the role of nationalism in the democratisation process and under which cond itions is nationalism more or less compatible with the democratisation proc ess. The article argues that the role of nationalism in that process cannot be generalised and constitutes a complex process in itself, conditioned by the political context of the society undergoing the transition. The politi cal context is viewed as an aggregate of factors, contributing to and deter mining the equilibrium between nationalism and democracy, such as the stage of national development, the conditions and circumstances surrounding the achievement of independent statehood, the previous regime and the period pr ior to that, the formation of transitional elites and the stage in the tran sition, and the issues of the ethnic composition and consonance within the state. Nationalism's capacity to threaten minorities, fragment states and complica te interethnic and interstate relations has been amply demonstrated and doc umented. Here, the aim is to shed light on nationalism as an integral part of the democratisation process, theoretically and empirically; the latter t hrough the exploration of two case studies, Slovakia and Slovenia as two ne wly independent postcommunist states that emerged as a result of democratis ation(3). Nationalism in the context of this article is viewed as a politic al force which tries to distribute power relations within the state through the articulation and promotion of political aims in the name of and on beh alf of a nation, or national group, (i.e, majority or minority),with its ma in goal being the safeguarding of the unity, identity and autonomy of that group. It is proposed that nationalism has a tendency towards the appropriation of state power by the dominant majority and thus undermines state-building, a fact gaining in relevance in multinational states and that: since it is de mocratisation itself that facilitates the increase in nationalist mobilisat ion, democracy is better served by a lesser emphasis on national identity. This last point is even more pertinent in the newly independent states enga ged simultaneously in nation-building and state-building. Assuming that nat ional identity is an important facet of people's existence and therefore re levant to democratic politics, the resolution between nationalism and democ racy depends greatly on how anti-democratic elements of nationalism can be reduced to such an extent that the transition to democracy does not get ove rshadowed by the consolidation of the national rather than political commun ity.