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Slovakian political development following the collapse of communism is analyzed. The instigator of the democratic change in Slovakia was the organization Public against Violence (VPN), the equivalent to the Czech Citizens' Forum, in which Vladimir Mciar came to prominence very early on. Following his clash with the leadership of VPN in spring 1991, he emerged as a charismatic political leader. Relying on his populist party called Movement for Democratic Slovakia (HZDS), Meciar in 1992 won the Slovakian parliamentary elections & became Prime Minister. The HZDS's radicalization of the nationalist discourse & its striving for a total institutional transformation of the Czechoslovakian federation led to the so-called "velvet divorce" & Slovakian independence early in 1993. Meciar & the HZDS briefly lost power in 1994 due to a party rift, but made a triumphant comeback after the elections in autumn of the same year. The authors' thesis is that this is responsible for the fact that in Slovakia, national populism & the client-patrimonial type of government have prevailed over democratic constitutionalism. The authors claim that the causes for such a development can be found in the social repercussions of the forced postwar industrialization & in the powerful tradition of cultural & political nationalism. 1 Table. Adapted from the source document.