Abstract: . . .  a political psychology , rather than a programme. It is the political psychology , the populist discourse, of what may be termed "submission, survival and salvation". The Slovak people and its leaders, so this discourse runs, have long been held in submission, and are still in danger of being relegated back to this oppressed position. The Slovak nation has survived its thousand-year ordeal through stubborn if passive perseverance. 7 Its very survival, indeed, can almost be considered a miracle, . . .
. . .  leaders, so this discourse runs, have long been held in submission, and are still in danger of being relegated back to this oppressed position. The Slovak nation has survived its thousand-year ordeal through stubborn if passive perseverance. 7 Its very survival, indeed, can almost be considered a miracle, but the suffering people were bound to be redeemed through a final act of political salvation, i.e. the achievement of national freedom and sovereignty. It was Meciar who could claim to have been instrumental . . .
. . .  political psychology Page 1 Paper presented to the conference on populism, Graz (Austria), 30-31 March, 2001 Pieter van Duin and Zuzana Polácková Submission, survival, salvation: The political psychology of nationalist populism in post-communist Slovakia 1 Rather than at a specific "right-wing" populism or right-wing extremism, racism, anti-semitism and the like, this paper will look at populism in a somewhat broader . . .
. . .  395-6. 31. TSS, June 19-25, 2000. 32. Van Duin and Polácková, "Democratic renewal and the Hungarian minority Page 14 14 question", 348 ff. 33. TSS, October 9-15, 2000. See also the analysis made in van Duin and Polácková, "Democratic renewal and the Hungarian minority question." 34. TSS, November 13-19, 2000. 35. TSS, November 20-26, 2000. 36. TSS, November 27-December 3, 2000. 37. B?orová et al., ?ublic Opinion”, 147. 38. Quoted in TSS, November 13-19, 2000. 39. Ibid. 40. Quoted in TSS, December . . .
. . .  41 This was perhaps a rather extreme, pessimistic statement. But it reminds us how radical nationalism, isolationism and authoritarianism, some of the ingredients of the populist mind, can be reproduced as well as diluted by unpredictable social and political developments. In this regard, however, Slovakia is probably not an exceptional case. Endnotes 1. Sona Szomol?yi, "Old Elites in the New Slovak State and Their Current Transformations", in Sona Szomol?yi and Grigorij Mesežnikov (eds), The Slovak . . .
. . .  the HZDS was disappointed in Slovakia's citizens and that those who failed to vote could no longer expect the party to "save" them. 35 Here the citizens had another piece of the populist rhetoric of salvation and betrayal, showing that the political psychology of nationalist populism was well and alive. But what about the ultimate failure of the populist referendum campaign? 6 The failure of the November referendum initiated by the HZDS seems to have caused a certain euphoria in anti-Meciar circles. . . .
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