TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE DYNAMICS IN SLOVAKIA: FROM SILENCE TO THE NATION’S MEMORY INSTITUTE By Martin Kovanic Submitted to Central European University Department of Political Science In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Supervisor: Professor Nenad Dimitrijevic CEU eTD Collection Budapest, Hungary (2012) Abstract The purpose of this thesis is to identify and explain the dynamics of transitional justice in Slovakia. Furthermore, it focuses on the Nation’s Memory Institute and its role in the process of dealing with the past. The dynamics are explained through the existence of constraints – the type of the regime change, the nature of the Communist regime and elite configuration. Transition process in Slovakia can be divided into three distinct phases, in which the interplay of the constraints allows for the application of various transitional justice mechanisms. Throughout the existence of the independent Slovakia, I argue that elite configuration is the constraint, which affects it the most. Favourable elite configuration allowed for the establishment of the institute in 2002, which can be considered a “breaking of the silence” when it comes to dealing with the past in Slovakia. CEU eTD Collection i Acknowledgements Hereby I would like to thank Professor Nenad Dimitrijevic for his supervision of my research, his guidance throughout my work and his valuable input and comments. CEU eTD Collection ii Table of Contents List of Abbreviations.............................................................................................................iv Introduction............................................................................................................................1 1 Transitional justice..........................................................................................................5 1.1 Mechanisms ............................................................................................................6 1.2 Constraints..............................................................................................................8 1.3 Post-communist transitional justice specifics.........................................................10 1.3.1 Institutes of Memory .....................................................................................11 2 Hard constraints on transitional justice in Slovakia .......................................................13 2.1 Nature of the communist regime ...............................................................................13 2.1.1 Communist regime in Slovakia..........................................................................14 2.2 Type of the regime change ........................................................................................17 2.3 Elite configuration ....................................................................................................19 3 Transitional justice dynamics in Slovakia......................................................................24 3.1 Slovakia within Czechoslovak federation (1989-1993)..............................................24 3.1.1 Reparatory justice..........................................................................................25 3.1.2 Symbolic measures........................................................................................27 3.1.3 Lustration......................................................................................................28 3.1.4 Criminal justice .............................................................................................29 3.1.5 Truth revelation.............................................................................................29 3.2 Slovakia under Meþiar (1993-98)..........................................................................30 3.2.1 Lustration......................................................................................................31 3.2.2 Reparatory justice..........................................................................................32 3.3 Slovakia after Meþiar (1998-2002)........................................................................33 3.3.1 Reparatory justice..........................................................................................33 3.3.2 Criminal justice .............................................................................................34 3.3.3 Truth revelation.............................................................................................34 3.4 Beyond the three phases........................................................................................35 4 Nation’s Institute of Memory........................................................................................37 4.1 Analysis of the justifications and criticism for Institute’s establishment.................38 4.1.1 The need to address the past ..........................................................................39 4.1.2 Delegitimization of the past regimes..............................................................40 4.1.3 Truth revelation.............................................................................................41 4.1.4 Selectivity and manipulation..........................................................................43 4.1.5 Presidential veto............................................................................................44 4.2 Functions of the Institute.......................................................................................45 4.2.1 Truth revelation.............................................................................................45 4.2.2 Acknowledgement of the victims...................................................................51 4.2.3 Criminal justice .............................................................................................51 CEU eTD Collection 4.3 Independence of the NMI......................................................................................52 Conclusion ...........................................................................................................................54 Reference List ......................................................................................................................57 iii List of Abbreviations HZDS – Hnutie za demokratické Slovensko (Movement for Democratic Slovakia) KDH – KresĢanskodemokratické hnutie (Christian Democratic Movement) NMI – Nation’s Memory Institute (Ústav Pamäti Národa) OF – Obþianske Fórum (Civic Forum) SDL – Strana demokratickej Đavice (Party of the Democratic Left) SDK - Slovenská demokratická koalícia (Slovak Democratic Coalition) SDKÚ – Slovenská demokratická a kresĢanská únia (Slovak Democratic and Christian Union) SMK – Strana maćarskej koalície (Party of Hungarian Coalition) SOP – Strana obþianskeho porozumenia (Party of Civic Understanding) VPN – VerejnosĢ proti násiliu (Public against Violence) CEU eTD Collection iv Introduction Dealing with past crimes is a challenge faced by every new political regime, which is being established in a country with a criminal past. There are two basic approaches to this challenge – either forgetting and forgiving or addressing the criminal past. Huntington argues that the decision to deal with the past has to be quick, because as time passes the discredited groups are able to regain influence. (Huntington 1991, 228) The tendency to forget and forgive simply increases with the passage of time. The post-communist transitions to democracy are all part of the third wave of democratization and they share some common characteristics that distinguish them from the previous cases of transition. Claus Offe labeled them as “triple transitions.” This triple transition encompassed the political regime change (introduction of democratic rules of the game, building up the new constitutional framework), economic transition (the introduction of the market economy) and transformation at the level of nationhood (redefinition of national identities) (Offe 1997). All of these problems had to be addressed simultaneously. Slovakia experienced the transition from communist rule as a part of Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovak elites addressed the past through a series of measures, including a limited number of criminal prosecutions and a severe lustration. After the break-up of the federation, Slovakia adopted the “politics of silence” – the decision not to address the criminal past and to focus on the future. However, in 2002 a law establishing the Nation’s Memory Institute and access to the secret police files was passed in the parliament. This development meant CEU eTD Collection that the silence was broken after 13 years, which goes against the expectation argued by Huntington. The purpose of this thesis is to provide some insights into the transitional justice developments in Slovakia. The main research question is: What were the dynamics of 1 transitional justice in Slovakia and how can they be explained? The main focus will be on the above mentioned Nation’s Memory Institute and its functions. I will try to answer what the motivations for establishment of this institute were and what is its place in the overall context of transitional justice in Slovakia. My expectations are that explaining Slovak transitional justice dynamics does not call for a new theory, but all of the details of the Slovak case have to be taken into account. The transitional justice theorists argue that it is the context, which imposes constraints and shapes