Democracy promotion: An import or an export business? The influence of international relations on civil society in a transitioning state, Slovakia

It has been said that the Velvet Revolution in Slovakia was only truly completed with its Parliamentary Election in September 1998, which resulted in the establishment of a new, more democratically oriented government.; Prior to that election, the Meciar government's ruling coalition had created an atmosphere of "illiberal democracy," which ultimately led to the country not being considered for first round accession into the European Union and NATO. The Parliamentary Election of September 1998 changed the situation entirely. It resulted in a victory for the opposition parties, which promised to work together in the formation of a new, more democratically transparent government.; It was generally recognized that the efforts of Slovak "Third Sector" or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) played an important role in affecting the election outcome. This led to a subsequent claim that civil society in post-communist Slovakia had truly blossomed.; The purpose of this research is to investigate the truth of that claim. There is a suspicion that international actors (i.e. foreign states and international organizations), which were also active in Slovakia just prior to the election, may actually have played the larger, more critical role in affecting its outcome. If true, this not only calls into question the legitimacy of the claim of democratic civil advancement in the country, but also raises important questions regarding the potential of international relations to have decided effects on domestic political situations, while creating the "illusion" of democratic civil advancement.; In seeking to identify and analyze the influence of Slovak NGOs vis-a-vis international actors in affecting the election, the research attempts to reveal how the two may actually have interacted together, and what the nature of that association was. Using interview data from more than 50 organizations, the conclusion is that they did indeed interact together, in transactional structures of democracy promotion (DP) in which civil society was ultimately advanced in the country.; Beyond this, the research seeks to lead to a deeper understanding of why some transactional structures encourage democratic civil advancement in states, while others do not.