Exploring the Role of Presidents as Political Actors: The Case of Slovakia

Since the collapse of communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe we have experienced a growing number of literature dealing with the role of presidents. Various authors have been focusing on formal presidential powers (e.g. Krouwel 2003), mode of election (e.g. Tavits 2008), inter-executive relations (e.g. Protsyk 2006, Sedelius 2006), veto power (e.g. Köker 2013) or their role in government formation. However, the use of presidential informal powers and their influence towards other institutions is still relatively unexplored. Even though presidents of Central and Eastern Europe possess limited formal powers and thus their role in executive matters is also limited, they are still able to influence other political actors or institutions. The aim of the paper is to delve into informal powers of the presidents of Slovakia and to explore if they were successful in addressing their critiques towards other political actors or institutions, especially towards government. The first part of the paper analyses the presidential institution within a legal framework. The second part analyses presidential speeches and key interviews, press releases of presidential office and tries to clarify under which conditions they address critique towards the other political actors. Finally, it tries to identify whether they were able to change behaviour of other political actors or institutions. The paper will combine both qualitative (using content analysis) and quantitative methods.