Hollow democracy

Every population in a democratic society undergoes developments over time, which mold the public's character, defining its sense of a civil society. Some sparks sprung up by enlightened intelligentsia, while others needed cruel thrusts from revolutions or wars to re-calibrate their values. The process itself, even though perhaps lengthy and cumbersome, when grasped by people directed into a clear direction; away form the past and to an open future.

The more we keep in mind these historic factual trends, the more enigmatic Slovakia becomes; not merely as a historical comparison, but given its existence within the EU, that should imply a certain minimal standard.

After being one year in power, the Radičová government is struggling on a daily basis to gain and regain its shaky balance. The tragedy of Slovakia is not so much a lack of a 'democratic tradition' - an excuse often heard, but there are enough examples demonstrating, that a newborn or young democracy can nevertheless be resolved in pushing through reforms and increasingly phase out from its tainted past. Slovakia remains deaf to objectively weighing the wrongs currently continuing to go on against the measures needed to solve them.  Instead of moving forward, there is a trend of moving back.

The most prominent obstacle is the judiciary, which partly is a system-related issue, but mostly because of a personal problem; that of Štefan Harabín. For non-Slovaks, the issues seem non existent and fairly of an academic nature. Yet, reality is a grave malignant outgrowth, slowly poisoning vital aspect of the functioning of society.

Recently, the honorary president of the International Association of Judges Günther Woratsch has called the current reform measures of the government in order to stabilise the judiciary as a 'step backward': In its true academic sense indeed Dr Woratsch is correct. Slovakia's judiciary has a level of independence which hardly exists in other EU countries, and the Justice Minister Žitňanská's justified attempts to curb Harabín's power indeed could be regarded as a government intervention. The fact that Mr Harabin has obviously abused his competencies, and has become a dangerous and overly autonomous uncontrolled projectile is more of a danger than the present government's steps.

The sad thing, especially statements like Dr Woratsch are being used for the wrong purpose; partly because the listener is too ignorant regarding the true intricate details of his judiciary's deficiencies. The opposition's leader and former prime minister Fico - as a former lawyer proved to be far from a competent legal professional, but this as a side remark - grip every possibility like this to portrait their past policies as being justified.

The tragedy is that the judiciary is not sufficiently having a resilient intellectual elite to safeguard its stability within its given autonomy. The tragedy is that Slovakia's politics function on merely propagandistic 19th century nationalist perceptions. The tragedy is that its EU membership since 2004 keeps it outside further EU scrutiny. And the tragedy is that even average man in the street sees no moral boundaries.

Politics is a mirror of society - to an extent yes; the very few, who could master a decent way ahead are being pushed to the edge by a majority, which assumes and adheres to a feudal mindset. Democracy although formally in place is dysfunctional. During the past and now. And albeit that the present government is truly making a hard effort, the tiny little successes can prove to be merely thin ice; a hollow democracy. Nothing more.