Slovenská verejnosť a vstup SR do NATO
The Slovak Public and Slovakia’s Accession to NATO

Summary/Abstract: The Slovak Public and Slovakia’s Accession to NATO. The most frequent topics recently included into public opinion polls in Slovakia are the following: public opinion on the Slovakia’s integration into the European Union and public opinion on Slovakia’s accession to the North-Atlantic Alliance. The paper analyses development of the Slovak public opinions on the Slovakia’s entry to NATO for the last decade. Development of the Slovak public opinions on this issue is evaluated in the context of overall public view on the way of guaranteeing security and defence of Slovakia. Public position on the entry to NATO went through interesting and dramatic turns in the last decade. The Slovak public opinion on the issue of guaranteeing defence of Slovakia has developed from the initial lack of interest in this issue and vague positions on it, through the idea of non-integration into blocks, finally to the idea of incorporation into the collective defence system. Concerning acceptation of the idea of Slovakia’s defence guaranteeing through the incorporation into the collective defence system, the public opinion went through certain development as well, namely from orientation to non-existing European security system to preference or acceptation of the Slovak Republic defence guaranteeing through the NATO membership. The paper describes groups of defenders and objectors of the Slovakia’s entry to NATO. Different positions on this issue result from different political preferences of citizens, from different education level, age and social-economic status. To better understand the Slovak public position on the Alliance and on the Slovakia’s entry to this security structure, the paper in details analyses also public opinions on circumstances of the potential Slovak membership in the NATO. There are identified the circumstances of the Slovakia’s entry to NATO that the public deems positive and the circumstances that the public deems negative for Slovakia. Sociológia 2003 Vol 35 (No. 5: 495-504)

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