Kevin Deegan Krause, "Public Opinion and Party Choice in Slovakia and the Czech Republic," Party Politics, 6 (January 2000), 23-46.

First Paragraph:
The very different paths taken by the governments of Slovakia and the Czech Republic after the two countries separated in 1993 might lead an observer to expect that Slovaks and Czechs held radically different sets of political opinions. This is nor the case. Indeed, the political opinions of the average Slovak differed little from those of the average Czech. But political opinions cannot be written off altogether as formative influences on the politics of these two countries. A closer look at the Slovak and Czech voters shows that the similarity of their opinions actually conceals meaningful and significant differences in the weight that they gave to particular issues when making political decisions. These differences helped to cause different political outcomes.

Figures and Tables:
Table 1: Mean characteristics of left-right self-placement among party supporters in Slovakia and the Czech Republic from annual CEU surveys, 1992-96
Table 2: Questions comprising simplified factors for Slovakia and the Czech Republic
Table 3: Mean characteristics of response on factors among party supporters in Slovakia and the Czech Republic from annual CEU surveys, 1992-96
Figure 1: Positions of major political parties on the preference dimension in Slovakia, 1992-96
Figure 2: Positions of major political parties on the preference dimension in the Czech Republic, 1992-96
Figure 3: The degree to which party placement on key factors correlates with party position on the abstract preference dimension in Slovakia over time
Figure 4: The degree to which party placement on key factors correlates with party position on the abstract preference dimension in the Czech Republic over time

Last Paragraph:
The defeat of this same coalition in late 1998 appears to have signaled a halt to this process for the short term, but the underlying patterns do nor appear to have changed. The winners of Slovakia's 1998 election demonstrated a willingness to follow democratic norms and act with more conciliation on national issues, but this new government must invest its political capital in a deeper resolution of these questions rather than spending it only on the imposition of its own goals. Otherwise, its victory may represent merely the final positive swing in Slovakia's dangerous political oscillation.