Štefančík, R. (2019). Christlich – demokratische Parteien in der Slowakei. Eine neue Perspektive. (Christian democratic Parties in Slovakia. The New Perspective)

Abstract

The Christian democratic parties play an important role in several Western European countries, since they were behind many of the successes and failures in the process of uniting European states after World War II. In general, Christian democracy is considered by many experts to be the most successful political movement in the modern history of the political life of the people of the European continent. This idea is followed by the author Radoslav Štefančík in his latest publication entitled Christlich-demokratische Parteien in der Slowakei with the subtitle Eine neue Perspektive. In the introduction the author explains his focus on the scientific investigation of this issue. It is clear from his words that he has been dealing with this topic since 2005, when his study stay in the Federal Republic of Germany aroused his interest in it. No wonder, the political parties CDU/CSU still fundamentally define the economic, social and political character of the present Federal Republic of Germany. In the context of the success of Christian democratic parties in several European countries, the author focuses on the successes and falls of Christian democratic political forces in Slovakia. In the case of Slovakia, this topic is even more interesting, because until 2006, the political parties with the Christian democratic orientation (KDH and SDKÚ-DS) belonged to those who formed the policy, but after the parliamentary elections in 2016 there is no political party which can be objectively described as a successor of traditional Christian democracy. The above-mentioned political parties are therefore at the center of the author’s attention. He seeks to answer the question why, in a post-communist country, in which the Church (Catholic) and Christian faith played a particularly important role, there was not only one political party representing this thought and value stream, but several parties, unable to form one large political party or electoral block in order to achieve a better election result (Štefančík, 2019, p. 12). In order to answer this key question, but also many others, the monograph is divided into eleven separate sections: 1. Vorwort (Preface), 2. Einleitung (Introduction), 3. Grundzüge des slowakischen politischen System (Fundamentals of the Slovak Political System), 4. Die Vorgeschichte der christlich-demokratischen