Demokratie als Enttäuschung? Die Rezeption von demokratischen Konzepten in der Slowakei nach 1918
Democracy as Disappointment? – The Reception of Democratic Ideals in Slovakia after 1918

Summary/Abstract: Is twenty years enough time for the creation of a functioning democratic system? This question was posed by no less than Tomáš G. Masaryk himself. In his abdication from the Presidency of Czechoslovakia, he expressed the opinion that the Republic would need no less than fifty years in order for its society to become democratic. The continued existence of a democratic system is dependent upon the respect of democratic rules. As the divergence between the declared democratic values and norms, on the one hand, and actual policy, on the other, becomes larger and larger, society becomes increasingly disillusioned with the functioning of the democratic system. In consequence of this disillusionment, the affection of parts of society increases for authoritarian movements and parties, which offer promises of improvement that are: clear, definite, and quick to take effect. The democratic concept and its reception in the Slovak part of the First Czechoslovak Republic are at the forefront of this paper. In order to evaluate the perception of democracy as a disappointing experience, it aims to clarify first what was understood at that time in Slovakia by “democracy”, the expectations that the population associated with democracy, and to what extent the Slovak society at the end of 1918 and start of 1919 was prepared for the new democratic order. Furthermore, the issue is clarified as to what experience the population in the Slovak part of Czechoslovakia had with the democratic system, and how the Slovak political actors responded to the Czechoslovak concept, its interpretations and its instrumentalization.

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