The State Policy and The Identity of the National Minorities in Slovakia in 20thCentury

Significant role in forming the identity of national and ethnic minorities is played by the living conditions provided by the country in which these minorities live. The following contribution outlines the possible ways of developing the ethnic national consciousness and identity on the territory of Slovakia during the 20th century from the perspective of the selected elements of the state policy. It focuses on national minorities in relation to such aspects of the state policy as the governmental structure of the country, legislative regulation of the minority rights, institutional protection of minorities, language and education policy and the status of minorities in the media. We can hardly speak about the continuity or the basic pattern of the state minority policy for the years 1918 - 1989. Throughout this period, basically incompatible political systems altered in Slovakia. Each of those systems tried to solve the minority issue taking its own interests, needs, ideological concepts and respective circumstances of the period into consideration. However, no political system settled the minority issue in a way and under such conditions, so that it could become the basis for the minority policy of the present Slovak Republic.