The influence of domestic political cleavages on 30 years of Slovak foreign policy (1993-2023)

Abstract

The foreign policy of states is the result of the combined effect of various domestic and foreign policy factors. This study is the first in the literature to analyse the domestic political fault lines shaping Slovakia's foreign policy from the perspective of foreign policy analysis. Based on English, Czech, and Slovak sources, it concludes that between 1993 and 2023, the central cleavage in Slovak foreign policy was the conflict between pro-Western and pro-Russian political forces. The paper also shows that although the conflict between the president and the prime minister was the most characteristic cleavage from those mentioned in the literature, in the Slovak case, the political ambitions of directly elected heads of state did not play a role in this. Finally, the Slovak experience confirms the influence of radical coalition partners and populist leaders on foreign policy.