Democracy and Security in Central Europe: A Comparison of the Czech Republic and Slovakia in NATO Enlargement

This thesis compares two cases of European democracy and security to explain why the Czech Republic was invited to join NATO and why Slovakia was excluded from the Euro-Atlantic integration. This thesis further discusses the political and economic character of Slovakia and the proposed reforms of Slovak policy to join NATO and the European Union in the near future. When Czechoslovakia split into two independent states, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, on January 1, 1993, both were believed to have a good chance of integrating into the West's political and military organizations at the earliest opportunity. While the Czech Republic forged ahead with democratic and free market reforms and successfully completed NATO accession talks, Slovakia failed to achieve these important objectives. Because of Slovak Prime Minister Vladimfr Meciar's anti-democratic statecraft, Slovakia has lately been excluded from the enlargement process. This policy led Slovakia slowly and non-democratically toward an authoritarian regime and dictatorship. However, the 1998 September Parliamentary elections have changed the political face of Slovakia and the new Prime Minister, Mikulas Dzurinda's government, has aided Slovakia's integration to NATO and the EU.