Foreign policy – a new field of populist politics. Case study of the “Eastern policy” of Slovakia after the 2023 national elections

Authors

  • Juraj Marušiak Institute of Political Science, Slovak Academy of Sciences

Keywords:

Slovakia, Smer-SD, populist foreign policy, Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, de-Europeanization

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyze the impact of a populist style of governance on the foreign policy of the Slovak Republic following the 2023 parliamentary elections. In addition to changes at the discursive level, the article examines changes in political decision-making processes, changes at the institutional level, and changes in the substance of foreign policy. The article focuses on the policies of the Smer – Social Democracy (Smer-SD) party, which holds the decisive say in foreign policy. It focuses primarily on one aspect of this policy—the policy toward Russia and Ukraine—which is characterized by the greatest discontinuity compared to the period before 2023, and in which the influence of populism and de-Europeanization is most pronounced. In the concluding section, the author examines the opportunities and limitations of populist foreign policy within the context of existing domestic and external factors shaping Slovakia’s political development.

Author Biography

Juraj Marušiak, Institute of Political Science, Slovak Academy of Sciences

Juraj Marušiak, PhD. (1970), political scientist and historian. Since 1996, he has worked as a senior research fellow at the Institute of Political Science, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, since 2022 as its director. His research is focused on the history of Slovakia in the 20th century, the political development of Slovakia after WWII, and the comparative politics and international relations in Central and Eastern Europe since 1989. His research interests lay in the field of the V4 countries, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova. He participated in an international research project focused on the history of the dissident movement in Slovakia. 2002-2003, Juraj Marušiak finished the Lane Kirkland scholarship in Warsaw (Poland) at Warsaw University, specialising in East European Studies. He conducted several short-term research and teaching stays in the Czech Republic, Russian Federation, Poland, Belarus and Bulgaria. He is an author of monographs “Slovenská literatúra a moc v druhej polovici päťdesiatych rokov [Slovak Literature and the Power in the second half of the 50´s] (Brno 2001), (Dez)integračná sila stredoeurópskeho nacionalizmu [The (Dis)integration Power of Central European Nationalism. A Study of the Visegrad Group Countries] (Bratislava 2015, in co-authorship with Mateusz Gniazdowski and Ivan Halász), and Príliš skoré predjarie… Slovenskí študenti v roku 1956 [An Early Spring That Came Prematurely… Slovak Students in 1956] (Bratislava 2020).

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Published

2026-10-29

How to Cite

Marušiak, J. (2026). Foreign policy – a new field of populist politics. Case study of the “Eastern policy” of Slovakia after the 2023 national elections. Identities: Journal for Politics, Gender and Culture, 1(1), 82-95. Retrieved from https://mail.identitiesjournal.edu.mk/index.php/IJPGC/article/view/733

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 1 (2026): Identities: Journal for Politics, Gender and Culture: Special Issue

Section

Articles

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Copyright (c) 2026 Identities: Journal for Politics, Gender and Culture

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