Skultety, Samuel Peter (2025) Nostalgia as Political Strategy: Robert Fico’s Use of Communist-Era Memories and Social Media in Post-Communist Slovakia. Bachelor thesis, Global Responsibility & Leadership (GRL).
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Abstract
This thesis explores how Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico strategically uses nostalgia for the communist era to shape national identity and political discourse in post-communist Slovakia. Drawing on theories of restorative nostalgia by Boym and post-peasant memory by Buzalka the study argues that nostalgia functions not merely as emotion but as a political tool, especially when amplified through social media. The analysis is structured in three parts: first, a theoretical overview of nostalgia’s role in populist communication; second, a historical comparison of Fico’s rhetoric with propaganda from the 1950s and 1968; and third, an analysis through charts, of Fico’s Facebook posts from 2023 to 2025. These posts show how digital platforms enable emotionally charged narratives that bypass traditional media and resonate with audiences longing for stability, dignity, and national sovereignty. The findings suggest that Fico reactivates selective historical memory, not to restore socialism, but to legitimize his political authority and discredit liberal opponents. In doing so, he transforms nostalgia into a performance of identity and power, reinforcing populist discourse in Slovakia’s fragile post-communist democracy.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Bachelor) |
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| Name supervisor: | Mikhaylovskaya, A.A. |
| Date Deposited: | 24 Jul 2025 07:58 |
| Last Modified: | 24 Jul 2025 07:58 |
| URI: | https://campus-fryslan.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/713 |
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