Slovakia and its Elites in the Global Environment
Slovakia and its Elites in the Global Environment

Summary/Abstract: The topic of my presentation might appear to go beyond the main scope of a conference about Slovak foreign policy. We analyse and reflect on the status of Slovakia as a sovereign, co-creator of a globalising Europe and world. Our historical development, whether in the former Austria-Hungary or later Czecho-Slovakia, rooted in us an attitude that goes from modesty through to defeatism or fatalism. When determining the fate of the communities to which we belonged, we always played a submissive role at best. Eleven years ago, we attained real state independence for the first time in our history. We confirmed this in our constitution, in our clear determination to join international co-operation; however, it seems to me that have not yet con-firmed this in our minds and self-confidence. Changes to the economic and political system can be brought about simply by amending laws, but changes in attitudes and thinking require a longer process. Ralf Dahrendorf states: “Six months is enough to reform political systems, six years suffice to change economic systems, but sixty years will be necessary for the revolution in the minds and hearts of humans.” Although I am not ready to fully accept Dahrendorf’s thesis, it is without doubt that it will take some time before the thinking of both the elite and the citizens are transformed. It is therefore justifiable to ask what Slovak politics should do in order to min-imise Dahrendorf’s prediction to the largest extent possible. I hope all of us are aware that Slo-vakia will only be respected in the globalized world to the degree that her representatives are respected. Personalities accrue from a self-confident nation that is composed of self-confident individuals. Let us leave aside the basic premise of our own personal growth based on freedom of the individual. Let us rather look at the criteria that must be fulfilled by Slovakia’s political elite in order that they can reassert themselves in international forums in a way that would rep-resent Slovakia with dignity. Besides other postulates, the enlarging Europe and North Atlantic Alliance primarily have in common one thing – the same democratic values. Even if Europe has more and more features of federalism, it will never become a nation state. The more, there-fore, we need to take advantage of people, whose self-confidence is based on education, life experience, language skills, contacts, communication skills, charm and strength of personality, patriotism, moral principle, etc. Štefánik’s idea: “He who acts and is conscious of his destination, controls his fate almost entirely,” was maybe never more valid than it is now. There are many conditions we need to discard so that the elite are given space. Of these, I would include envy, jealousy and trying to be equal to the best, not by working hard to attain their level but by trying to put them down. Political conditions are also very important, and I would like to make some remarks on them here. In my opinion, this is mostly the egoism of political parties but some part is also played by the media and public. There is an inability to support and respect personalities where they hold opposite political convictions. I am speaking about the ability to support them, I disallow efforts to eliminate or remove this elite. It is almost typical for Slovakia that it excels in the removal of its intellectual elites after every change to the social system. It is even sadder when we take into account that Dahrendorf’s thesis about the inevitability of a generational time for a change in thinking is valid. I think it would not be contradictory to say that outside our borders nobody judges representatives of states according to their political affiliation but rather according to their skills and competence. Here I ask directly: “Do we have enough professionals who would be able to, until such a time when the new generation who do not carry the burden of the past grows up, represent the interests of Slovakia not only at a bilateral but especially at an institutional level?” Based on my own experience of working in two important international institutions, the parliamentary assemblies of NATO and Council of Europe, I can claim that only a person equipped with language skills, charisma and a strong personality is able to hold an opinion. And especially a person who has a warm relationship with his homeland.

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