On August 25, 2025, IVO experts – sociologist Oľga Gyárfášová, political analyst Miroslav Kollár and political scientist Grigorij Mesežnikov – discussed the resilience of Slovak society towards hybrid threats in the context of the current turbulent international situation, the ongoing Russian aggression against Ukraine and the domestic political developments in the Slovak Republic, marked by polarization of views and values and strong party-political confrontation.
The event was organized in cooperation with the Freistadt – Slobodné Mesto (Free City) Civic Association as a part of the IVO Road Show project “Experts to People“ supported by the Open Information Partnership (OIP). Discussion was moderated by teacher and theatre director Brian Brestovanský. 30 citizens of Hlohovec were present.
Grigorij Mesežnikov pointed out the importance of social factors that increase the resilience of a democratic society towards external threats. In addition to long-term structural elements (for example, high trust in institutions, the population's adherence to democratic principles, a high-quality education system), the effective strategic communication is needed that can identify the toxic background and intentions of disinformation campaigns and provide citizens with truthful information based on credible knowledge. There is currently a serious problem in Slovakia.
Unfortunately, the basic framework of the state's strategic communication mechanism, built in previous years, is practically dis-functional after the personal and organizational changes made after October 2023. What's more, leading domestic political actors themselves are involved in spreading the narratives that are consistent with Russian geopolitical intentions and contradict the spirit of Slovakia's alliances and partnerships with the countries of the democratic West. In the last two years, foreign authoritarian influences have been resisted mainly by independent critical media and non-governmental organizations, including think tanks and civic initiatives.
G. Mesežnikov characterized the selected systemic narratives through which the Russian media-propaganda apparatus tries to undermine the cohesion of Slovak society and complicate Slovakia's cooperation with Western allies (the unsuitability of liberal democracy for Central European countries, Pan-Slavism as an indispensable basis for foreign policy, the advantages of Soviet-style integration over the current European one). He also pointed out the so-called “wars of memory” that Russia is waging against Central European countries.
Oľga Gyárfášová discussed the findings of long-term public opinion surveys on the attitude of the population to democracy, the human rights system, the principles of governance and the country's foreign policy orientation. She outlined current trends (shifts) in people's opinions on the internal development and overall direction of Slovakia, on the socio-economic situation and the Slovak Republic's membership in the EU and NATO. Citizens form their opinions taking into account developments at home and in the world, but also on the basis of messages from opinion-shaping political actors. It is therefore irresponsible from leading politicians to introduce into the public and political discourse the idea that there are positive alternatives to the current Slovakia’s rootedness in the structures of the democratic West with all the economic advantages and security guarantees that this position brings.
O. Gyárfášová pointed out the de facto normalization of anti-systemic stances in the areas of political democracy and foreign policy. These were considered marginal and even extremist not long ago, but today, as a result of the aforementioned normalization, they are becoming almost part of the mainstream.
Miroslav Kollár focused on the situation on the Slovak media scene, on the main channels that bring information to citizens belonging to different age categories and opinion groups (television, radio, print publications, online platforms and social networks). The presented data leads to analytical conclusions about which political actors are more successful in communicating with voters and how this is reflected not only in the political preferences of the population, but also in their positions on issues of foreign policy and foreign influence.
Politicians are looking for opportunities for direct communication with voters, for their direct addressing or influencing. In such a setting, government officials are trying to take steps aimed at creating obstacles for the opposition to access public and other electronic media and making it impossible for these media themselves to critically reflect on the development of the country under the conditions of the current government coalition.
Report about discussion was published by Hlohovec city’s FB page Fraštačani.
