CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2007
| Author | Medzihorský, Juraj |
|---|---|
| Title | A NEW GREY ZONE: INTELLECTUALS, THINK TANKS, AND POLITICS IN POST-COMMUNIST SLOVAKIA |
| Summary | The thesis analyses the sphere of think tanks and its intellectuals in Slovakia in 1998-2006 adopting a Bourdieuan genetic structuralist approach. Adapting Medvetz’s theory of the US ‘proto-field’ of think tanks, it theorizes this sphere as a new distinct relatively autonomous sphere of intellectual production located on the intersection of the academy, politics, journalism, business, and ‘the transnational field of democracy and human rights’ as analyzed by Guilhot. The sources of data are organizational documents, publications, CVs, semi-structured interviews, and media production. The sphere is found strongly tied to the academy and ‘transnational field’ resulting from their role in its founding. Tracing the social histories of the think tankers, the thesis argues that the prevalence of agenda congruent with neoliberalism among the main Slovak think tanks results from intellectuals’ struggle with communist nomenclatura. In this struggle a segment of intellectuals adopted a worldview congruent with the neoliberal program abandoning the traditional teleological pretensions of region’s intelligentsia and adopted a more Western-type role. This worldview and a derived program led some of these intellectuals to enter the politics during the post-communist transition and later also to found the think tank sphere. Though bringing a more technological role, the transformation to think tankers did not entail professionalization. The proto-field is found to be similar to the ‘grey zone’ as it allows its’ intellectuals to remain relatively autonomous and cultivate their cultural capital. This ‘new grey zone’ differs from the original one mainly in deriving its relative autonomy from engaging with multiple relatively autonomous sources of power. Importantly, it allows the intellectuals to be a significant presence in politics despite their post-transitional retreat from positions of political power. |
| Supervisor | Bozóki, András |
| Department | Political Science MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2007/medzihorsky_juraj.pdf |
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