Replacement of Municipal Political Elite as a Tool for Seizing Power and Consolidating an Authoritarian Regime in Slovakia 1938–1940

Abstract

The main aim of this article is to present a comparative historical analysis of the mechanisms for the replacement of the political elites after the collapse of interwar Czechoslovakia and the declaration of the Slovak State under the infl uence of Nazi Germany in the years 1938–1940 at the level of municipal self-government with regard to the onset of an authoritarian regime. The subjects of the research are two towns, Prešov and Nitra, which provide an opportunity to look for similarities and diff erences in the changes implemented in two socio-economically and demographically similar towns with diff erent political climates. The research is based on primary and secondary historical sources confronted mainly with the theories of V. Pareto, R. Michels and J. J. Linz. Historical developments in Slovakia in the years 1938–1940 and the process of the replacement of municipal elites correlates with the framework formulated in the sociological theories of Pareto and Michels. The process of the replacement of municipal elites contributed also to the gaining of characteristic elements of the authoritarian regime in the sense of the defi nition of J. J. Linz established in Slovakia by the Hlinka Slovak People’s Party.