This book presents detailed factual information about the Slovak political scene and explains the underlying domestic political dynamics in the Slovak Republic, which became an internationally recognized entity at the beginning of 1993. Slovakia is the least familiar of the 'Visegrad Four' states, which are clearly emerging as the key actors among the ten states which joined the EU in 2004. Karen Henderson focuses on parties and elections, offering an original contribution to the literature both on party systems in general, and on the specific factors that have affected party politics in the transition states of eastern Europe, and on the peculiar situation of countries that have to grapple with the exigencies of building a new nation state while also struggling with other aspects of post-communist transition.