Foreign Policy Bureaucracy in Times of Populism: The Slovak Experience after 2023

Tamara Fischer

Bakalářská práce

Abstract:

This thesis examines how the return of populist government in Slovakia after 2023 affected the autonomy and role of the foreign-policy bureaucracy. Drawing on do-cument analysis and four expert interviews, it traces institutional change across three mechanisms: politicisation, personalisation, and centralisation. The findings suggest that transformation operated primarily through informal rather than formal channels, producing an institution that retained its formal structure while losing the analytical and advisory capacity that had defined its prior role. Even fragmented, incoherent populist governance can cause significant institutional damage that is harder to detect and reverse precisely because it lacks a clear overarching logic.

Keywords

Populism, Foreign policy bureaucracy, Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, Mechanisms of institutional transformation, Slovakia

Jazyk práce: angličtina

Datum vytvoření / odevzdání či podání práce: 7. 5. 2026

Obhajoba závěrečné práce

• Obhajoba proběhla 27. 5. 2026
• Vedoucí: doc. Marek Rybář, M.A.
• Oponent: Mgr. Pavlo Otamas

Masarykova univerzita

Fakulta sociálních studií

Bakalářský studijní program / obor:
Politics, Media, and Communication / Politics, Media, and Communication