Constitutional nationalism's implications for minority rights and democratization: the case of Slovakia

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between the establishment of regimes on the basis of the 'right' to national self-determination and both illiberal nation-building and authoritarianism. I propose that the constitutional designation of a particular ethnic nation as the source of state sovereignty plays a key role in producing such patterns of governance. I develop this argument in light of the evidence provided by the experience of post- communist Slovakia.