Slovak National Councils and the Road to Parliamentarism

The editor`s ambition was to provide the readers not only with a view on the Slovak National Council as a central national-political body in the revolutionary years 1848 - 1849 and 1918, but also with a substantially deeper historical perspective on further formation and activities of the SNC up to the establishment of the Slovak republic in 1993. 1998 saw the release of the publication entitled "The Slovak National Council", written at a popular level (without footnotes). It informed the general public about the history of the SNC.

The past two centuries, nineteenth and twentieth, were marked by heightened intensity of Slovak political life, especially by significant efforts of the Slovaks to achieve national and political unification. These efforts naturally resulted in repeated establishment and activity of the Slovak National Council, which largely determined the course of development of Slovak society at crossroads of its history.

Due to the strong historical awareness of the existence and activity of Stur`s Slovak National Council in 1848 - 1849, its name was preserved both during the attempt to recreate it in 1914 and in the subsequent period in the years 1918 and 1943. Although over time, the status of the Slovak national Council as well as it roles in Slovak politics have changed, this supreme political institution has become a permanent part of Slovak political life. As a recognized political body in Slovakia, the SNC came into the foreground of Slovak politics in 1968, especially during the transformation of a unitary state into a federation. After January 1, 1993, it was transformed into the Parliament of the independent Slovak republic, and later played a major role in Slovak accession to the European Union.