Foreign Affairs & Security

With the return of former Prime Minister Fico, old authoritarian patterns could resurface in the upcoming elections. However, progressives also have a chance to win.

Social and care infrastructure should be at the focus of reconstruction in Ukraine not only for humanitarian reasons but also to avoid a backlash into traditional gender roles. An Interview with Galyna Kotliuk, coordinator of Heinrich Böll Stiftung’s Gender democracy Program in Ukraine.   

Referring to the low number of female Slovak ambassadors, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that Slovakia has a “historical and institutional debt”. She adds that the new board vowed to address the situation. A more transparent selection process or even a gender audit are a way to do that.

Russia's open military aggression against Ukraine has provoked strong reactions around the world. The V4 countries, whose outwardly apparent unity seemed to be crumbling, also took a stance. How serious is the schism between Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic on the one side and Hungary on the other? Is the breakdown of V4 inevitable or is there still a room for cooperation? Slovak political scientist Grigorij Mesežnikov reflects on the current state the Visegrad Group finds itself in.

War and armed conflict almost always go hand in hand with sexual violence – rape, sexual slavery, forced marriage. On occasions when it seems pertinent, such as in the context of the current war in Ukraine, politicians and the media talk about the issue and condemn the violence, but their rhetoric is short on substance.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine tragically continues with brutal shelling of civilian targets, escalating into a humanitarian catastrophe. At the forefront of all this is the masculinity of war which caused these horrors in the first place, and which allows for ignoring the voices of Ukrainian women at all levels.

To what extent do human rights principles underpin the European Union’s policies towards the rest of the world? The EU’s power to promote the core values enshrined in its treaties is weakened by the frequent misalignment between the rhetoric of EU leaders and the actions on the ground. Can these gaps be bridged to place respect for human rights, equality, and social justice at the heart of foreign policy? Hannah Neumann explains how change will not happen overnight, but how progress can be made through painstaking efforts, compromise, and dialogue.

In Slovakia, the original discourse of the Catholic Church’s struggle for the preservation of the “traditional family” has spilled over into public politics in the form of what have come to be known as culture wars. New figures have appeared on the scene of anti-gender campaigns. The mobilization of Christian movements, however, is lately being disrupted by a fission in the seemingly unified agenda.