Facilitator and Impeder: The Institutional Framework of Slovak Politics During the Premiership of Vladimír Meciar
Author(s)
Haughton, Tim
Abstract
Identifies the facilitating and limiting roles played by political institutions in Slovakia and shows how they shaped politics during VladimÃÂr Meciar’s three premierships in the 1990’s. Despite an overall majority from 1994 to 1998, Meciar’s ambitions were thwarted on several occasions by both the president, Michal Kovác, and the constitutional court. The Slovak parliament is theoretically a powerful limiter, but its restraining effect has been weakened in the case of a strong government. Overall, however, the abuses of the 1994-98 government were limited more by the institutional framework than by the opposition or media.
