Page 124 - RIMD_4
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124 R e v u ed el ’ I n s t i t u td uM o n d ee td udéveloppement
tees where the inhabitants could be involved, in fact (primarily because
of existing strict subordination in one line) it was not possible to speak
about territorial self-government in that time. Moreover, also legislation
defined national committees as “state organs with self-government charac-
ter” which proved their special character.
The communities obtained a self-government status by the Act No.
369/1990 Coll. on Communal Establishment and their prime function be-
came an execution of public affairs administration in the extent that was
not belonging to the state administration issues. By this way the Slovak
communities became fully-fledged actors of policy-making on a local level.
In the same year, the system of national committees was abolished and new
state administration authorities were established. Important point in terms
of policy-making processes (and more precisely policy-making actors) is
also the fact that the mentioned abolishment was very significantly related
to regional level of state administration because all regional state adminis-
tration bodies were abolished.
After a series of unsuccessful political negotiations, the 1992 parliamentary
election became a turning point. The impatient winners of the election –
Prime Minister Václav Klaus in the Czech Republic, and Prime Minister
Vladimír Mečiar in Slovakia – were able to agree only on the division of the
common state into two independent states. On 1 January 1993, Czechos-
lovakia was dissolved. Succession states have started to develop their own
political and administrative systems. Obviously, due to unitary character
of these states, they discontinued in utilization of a federal political level.
Slovak National Council approved the Constitution of the SR (Constitutio-
nal Act of the Slovak National Council No. 460/1992 Coll. the Constitution
of the Slovak Republic) already before the official approval of separation.
The SR has characterized itself as sovereign, democratic, and law-gover-
ned state (Article No. 1 of the Constitution of the SR). Political practice
showed indeed that to declare something did not mean the same as to rea-
lize it. As it was pointed out by Szomolányi (2004), in the case of the SR, the
democratization was everything but not a simple and straight-lined pro-
cess. During the mid-1990s Slovak political situation was characterized by
absence of consensual elite issuing into the polarity of society. Although
levers had already been created for public to access the policy-making pro-
cess in the early 1990s, strengthening public participation was not really a
priority. Policies of the government in that time were met with disapproval
of a significant share of the population which participated in demonstra-
tions organized by opposition parties and civic associations in Bratislava
as well as in other cities in the SR (Mesežnikov, 1997, p. 19). Moreover, in
1995-1997, during the era characterized by a “struggle over the rules of the
game” and political instability, the idea of a consolidated democracy in SR
was considered more uncertain than just “a variant of an unstable regime”
o
RIMD–n 4–2013
tees where the inhabitants could be involved, in fact (primarily because
of existing strict subordination in one line) it was not possible to speak
about territorial self-government in that time. Moreover, also legislation
defined national committees as “state organs with self-government charac-
ter” which proved their special character.
The communities obtained a self-government status by the Act No.
369/1990 Coll. on Communal Establishment and their prime function be-
came an execution of public affairs administration in the extent that was
not belonging to the state administration issues. By this way the Slovak
communities became fully-fledged actors of policy-making on a local level.
In the same year, the system of national committees was abolished and new
state administration authorities were established. Important point in terms
of policy-making processes (and more precisely policy-making actors) is
also the fact that the mentioned abolishment was very significantly related
to regional level of state administration because all regional state adminis-
tration bodies were abolished.
After a series of unsuccessful political negotiations, the 1992 parliamentary
election became a turning point. The impatient winners of the election –
Prime Minister Václav Klaus in the Czech Republic, and Prime Minister
Vladimír Mečiar in Slovakia – were able to agree only on the division of the
common state into two independent states. On 1 January 1993, Czechos-
lovakia was dissolved. Succession states have started to develop their own
political and administrative systems. Obviously, due to unitary character
of these states, they discontinued in utilization of a federal political level.
Slovak National Council approved the Constitution of the SR (Constitutio-
nal Act of the Slovak National Council No. 460/1992 Coll. the Constitution
of the Slovak Republic) already before the official approval of separation.
The SR has characterized itself as sovereign, democratic, and law-gover-
ned state (Article No. 1 of the Constitution of the SR). Political practice
showed indeed that to declare something did not mean the same as to rea-
lize it. As it was pointed out by Szomolányi (2004), in the case of the SR, the
democratization was everything but not a simple and straight-lined pro-
cess. During the mid-1990s Slovak political situation was characterized by
absence of consensual elite issuing into the polarity of society. Although
levers had already been created for public to access the policy-making pro-
cess in the early 1990s, strengthening public participation was not really a
priority. Policies of the government in that time were met with disapproval
of a significant share of the population which participated in demonstra-
tions organized by opposition parties and civic associations in Bratislava
as well as in other cities in the SR (Mesežnikov, 1997, p. 19). Moreover, in
1995-1997, during the era characterized by a “struggle over the rules of the
game” and political instability, the idea of a consolidated democracy in SR
was considered more uncertain than just “a variant of an unstable regime”
o
RIMD–n 4–2013
