The innovative forms of participation : case of Slovak parliamentary elections

Džatková, Veronika (author)

One of the long-term interests of political scientists is researching the scope of civic and political participation in public affairs. The current decrease in civic activism is related to the crisis of representative democracy which reflects a growing distrust of politicians and political institutions. Innovative forms of participation serve as tools to mitigate this crisis and support civic engagement. The result of a comparative analysis reveals that the online activism of politicians significantly impacted political awareness during the Slovak parliamentary election in 2020 and 2023. In addition to traditional media, online campaigns had a substantial mobilizing influence on voter turnout, particularly in 2023. However, a negative aspect of citizens' online participation is slacktivism which refers to participation that lacks a real impact on social change.

• Language: English
• Keywords: crisis of representative democracy, slacktivism
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Geographic coverage: Slovaška
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: Str. 39-51
• Numbering: Vol. 18, no. 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-179336
• UDC: 321.02:324(437.6)
• ISSN on article: 1338-1385
• COBISS.SI-ID: 267922179
• Publication date in RUL: 11.02.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Journal of comparative politics
• Publisher: Department of Political Science, Center for Analysis of Administrative-Political Processes and Institutions, Alma Mater Europea-European Centre Maribor (AMEU-ECM)
• ISSN: 1338-1385
• COBISS.SI-ID: 29224285

Licences

• License: CC BY-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
• Description: This Creative Commons license is very similar to the regular Attribution license, but requires the release of all derivative works under this same license.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Inovativne oblike udeležbe

Abstract

Eden izmed dolgoročnih raziskovalnih interesov politologije je proučevanje obsega državljanske in politične participacije v javnih zadevah. Trenutni upad državljanske angažiranosti je pogosto povezan s krizo predstavniške demokracije, ki se kaže v naraščajočem nezaupanju do politikov in političnih institucij. Inovativne oblike participacije predstavljajo eno izmed možnih orodij za ublažitev tega stanja in spodbujanje večje vključenosti državljanov v demokratične procese. Rezultati primerjalne analize kažejo, da je spletni aktivizem politikov pomembno vplival na politično zavest volivcev ob slovaških parlamentarnih volitvah v letih 2020 in 2023. Poleg tradicionalnih medijev so imele spletne kampanje zlasti leta 2023 izrazit mobilizacijski učinek na volilno udeležbo. Kljub temu pa spletna participacija državljanov pogosto ostaja na ravni t. i. slacktivisma – oblike participacije, ki ne vodi do dejanskih družbenih sprememb.

• Keywords: volitve, politična participacija, civilna družba, Slovaška