Incinerators, Dams, and Bears: The Legitimacy of Local Resistance Against Anti-Ecological Populism in Slovakia

This paper explores the shifting dynamics of the "local-national" tension in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) by analyzing three distinct case studies of environmental resistance in Slovakia. In the context of a resurgent populist administration led by Prime Minister Robert Fico, nature has become one of the ideological battlefields. While the central government frequently frames ecological standards and EU-led "Green Deals" as impositions by liberal urban elites that threaten the traditional rural way of life, our research identifies a burgeoning counter-narrative. We investigate how local actors—often located in the very rural heartlands that form the populist electoral base—are reclaiming the discourse of nature preservation through "autochthonous" progressive movements. The first case study focuses on Dudince, a small spa town in South-Central Slovakia. Here, a proposed waste incineration plant faced a sophisticated and ultimately successful mobilization by local residents supported by national level opposition politicians. This case demonstrates how the preservation of "local character" and the economic necessity of health-based tourism can override the top-down industrial agendas of business oligarchies allied with the state. The second case examines the ongoing struggle in Čechánky, a mountain valley in Central Slovakia. In this instance, local landowners have formed an unconventional alliance with urban activists to oppose a planned dam that threatens to submerge valuable ecosystems and private property. The conflict in Čechánky illustrates the friction between the state’s developmentalist, post-communist infrastructure goals and a modernizing rural population that values ecological integrity over traditional industrial expansion. It reflects a redefined tension where the "local" is no longer isolated but networked with broader civil society. The third case analyzes the state-approved campaign against Carpathian bears and wolves. Unlike the previous examples, this represents a largely unsuccessful nationwide resistance. The populist government utilized the "predator threat" as a tool of political mobilization, authorizing the culling of endangered species to signal a "return to order" and a rejection of EU environmental regulations. This case illustrates how populist policies can effectively bypass local ecological knowledge and scientific consensus by weaponizing fear, highlighting the limits of urban-based ecological resistance when faced with a local parameters of supposed village insecurity. In conclusion, we argue that these “resistance bubbles” necessitate a deeper scholarly look at the reasons behind rural opposition to populist rule which has been predominantly constituted there. While the reactionary alliance of politicians and business elites attempts to delegitimize ecological alternatives as "alien" to the Slovak countryside, the reality on the ground suggests a changing lifestyle and a shift in values. We contend that the legitimacy of local resistance is rooted in a progressive, autochthonous tradition of ecological movement that seeks a sustainable future for the rural landscape, independent of both the central populist agenda and the perceived elitism of urban-centric environmentalism.