On September 23, 2025, the Institute for Public Affairs, in cooperation with the civic association BERKAT, organized a public discussion in Prievidza on the resilience of Slovak society towards external threats. IVO experts Zora Bútorová (sociologist), Miroslav Kollár (media and political analyst) and Grigorij Mesežnikov (political scientist) debated with the citizens of the city. The event was moderated by Ivan Sýkora from the civic association Berkat. 30 citizens of Prievidza were present.
In their introductory contributions, the experts addressed the ability of society, institutions and individuals to resist the attempts by external forces (primarily foreign authoritarian states, especially Russia) and domestic actors of foreign authoritarian influence, aimed at weakening the cohesion of society, questioning the existing democratic system, reducing trust between people, spreading false historical narratives and compromising the country's pro-Western foreign policy orientation.
The discussion with citizens was held about the need to increase the resilience of society, the role of various social actors (politicians, representatives of state institutions, civic activists, representatives of the media, public intellectuals) and educational institutions. The discussants pointed out the contradictions between the declared positions and practical steps of individual representatives of the current Slovak government coalition on the one hand and the officially enshrined priorities of Slovak foreign policy, as well as the obligations arising from membership in the EU and NATO, on the other.
Grigorij Mesežnikov characterized the factors increasing or decreasing the resilience of a free society and a democratic state to external threats and internal risks. As an element influencing the domestic discussion and party politics, he mentioned the aggressive foreign policy and military course of Russia, Russian post-imperial geopolitical expansionism and information aggression against the community of democratic states in Europe (EU, NATO). He pointed out that after 2014, the Russian propaganda machine has constantly used narratives (historical, situational and systemic) incompatible with democracy to shape the opinions of citizens of Central European countries, including Slovakia, on current issues of social development in accordance with Kremlin‘s ideas. He also touched on the role played by domestic holders of pro-Russian disinformation content.
In the discussion, G. Mesežnikov explained how enormously important the concerted efforts of a wider spectrum of actors in Slovakia to implement democratic reforms after 1998 have been and how favourable the situation was in the early 2000s for the integration chances of the Slovak Republic due to the then internal and geopolitical weakness of Russia. At that time, Russia was unable to prevent the countries of Central Europe from joining NATO and the EU. At the same time, he noted how unjustifiably optimistic and erroneous were the thoughts of the leaders of the democratic West in the early 1990s, that after the gradual disintegration of the communist system and the collapse of the Soviet zone of influence, the new “democratic” Russia would give up its imperial ambitions and would henceforth be an ally of the democratic West, that it would gradually become its integrated part. Developments resulted in a completely different direction: towards the Kremlin’s military adventures against neighbouring states, towards hostility towards the West, towards efforts to dismantle the EU from within.
Zora Bútorová spoke about the socio-cultural and value background of people's views on the democratic regime, governance, the system of human rights and civil liberties, as well as on foreign policy and membership in the EU and NATO. She pointed out the unique role of political leaders and other public figures in shaping the foreign policy orientations of the population and the ability of people to resist hostile external influence. She characterized the factors that increase the polarization of society and thus make it easier for populist and authoritarian politicians to more effectively address supporters, especially those who are marked by a high degree of xenophobia and a low degree of tolerance, who call for a "strong-handed government". At the same time, she noted how important it is for society to be based on mutual trust between people, on strong trust of citizens in institutions. Only a cohesive society can be resilient – against both internal and external threats. Only those who trust it, who are clearly and fully identified with it, are capable of effectively defending the country, the democratic system, and its values.
Miroslav Kollár focused on the situation on the media scene in the Slovak Republic, especially in the context of forming citizens' opinions on current domestic political developments and the foreign policy direction of the state. He informed about research on the viewership of individual media, about monitoring the activities of political actors (individual parties and their representatives) on various online platforms (in the media and on social networks). He pointed out the background of attempts by representatives of the government parties to dominate the space of electronic media - both public and private. Considering the type of communication strengthened by the set algorithms of global social networks, he spoke in favour of smart content regulation, at least at the European level.
