Iveta Radičová (; born 7 December 1956) served as the first woman
prime minister of Slovakia from 2010 to 2012. She led a coalition government, in which she also briefly held the post of Minister of Defence in the last five months of the coalition. Previously she had served as minister of Labour from 2005 to 2006 in the second
Dzurinda government.
In the
2009 presidential election Radičová unsuccessfully ran for the office of
president of Slovakia
The president of the Slovak Republic ( sk, Prezident Slovenskej republiky) is the head of state of Slovakia and the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. The president is directly elected by the people for five years, and can be elected fo ...
. she stated that she has retired from politics.
Personal life
Radičová was born in
Bratislava
Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approximately 140% of ...
on 7 December 1956. She has one daughter and is the widow of
Stano Radič, a famous
Slovak comedian and actor who died in 2005. In addition to her native
Slovak, Radičová speaks Russian fluently and has good knowledge of English, German and
Polish.
Academic career
Radičová began her academic career studying
sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...
at the
Comenius University in Bratislava, earning a PhD at the
Slovak Academy of Sciences in 1981.
Radičová worked as a sociologist at the Academy from 1979–1989, coordinating a research team for family policies. In 1990, she pursued postdoctoral studies for a year at the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
. Upon her return to Slovakia in 1991, Radičová founded the Center for Analysis of Social Policy, one of Slovakia's first NGOs, and served as its executive director until 2005.
During this period, Radičová also lectured in the departments of sociology, political science, and social work at Comenius University.
In 2005, she was named a Professor of Sociology by the Faculty of Philosophy at Comenius University, making her Slovakia's first female professor of sociology.
In Spring 2013, she returned to Oxford, as a visiting fellow.
["Iveta Radičová,"]
Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford. Accessed: 17 May 2013.
Political career
Radičová began her political career in 1990 as a member of the
Public Against Violence
Public Against Violence ( sk, Verejnosť proti násiliu, VPN) was a political movement established in Bratislava, Slovakia in November 1989. It was the Slovak counterpart of the Czech Civic Forum.
Velvet Revolution
Public Against Violence (VPN) ...
movement, serving as a spokesperson of the party until 1992.
She later participated in Slovak part of
Civic Democratic Party. She served as its Spokesperson. She had never become its member and never held any position in the party.
From 2005 to 2006, she served as
Minister of Labour, Social Affairs and Family in the center-right government of Prime Minister
Mikuláš Dzurinda. Radičová was then elected as a member of the
Parliament of Slovakia on the party list of Dzurinda's liberal-conservative
Slovak Democratic and Christian Union-Democratic Party (SDKU-DS) in the
2006 parliamentary election.
Following the 2006 election, the SDKU-DS went into opposition. Radičová officially became a member of SDKU-DS following the election and was subsequently elected as deputy chairman of the party.
Radičová also served as deputy chairman of the parliamentary committee on social affairs and housing.
In 2009, Radičová was selected as the SDKU-DS's candidate in the 2009 presidential election and was also endorsed by the conservative
Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) and the
Party of the Hungarian Coalition (SMK-MKP). In the first round of the election held on 21 March, Radičová received a surprisingly strong 38.05% of the vote and came in second place to incumbent President
Ivan Gašparovič, who failed to receive a majority of the vote. Radičová was defeated by Gašparovič in the second round of the election held on 4 April, receiving 44.47% of the vote. She is the second woman to advance to the second round of a presidential election in Slovak history.
Shortly after her loss in the presidential election, Radičová encountered controversy after casting a parliamentary vote for an absent party colleague in violation of parliamentary rules. As a result of the controversy, Radičová resigned her seat in parliament on 23 April 2009.
Prime Minister
In early 2010, Radičová was selected as head of the SDKU-DS list for the next parliamentary election via a
primary election
Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...
, defeating former Finance Minister
Ivan Mikloš. During the election campaign her party ran on a platform of fiscal discipline and pledged to reinvigorate the economy.
In the
election
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operat ...
on 12 June 2010, the SDKU-DS came in a distant second place with 15.42% of the vote, far behind the center-left
Smer party of Prime Minister
Robert Fico, which received 34.79% of the votes. However, Fico's coalition partners, the ultra-nationalist
Slovak National Party and the national-conservative
HZDS, performed poorly, with HZDS failing to win any seats in parliament. After Fico proved unable to form a new government, Radičová, as leader of the largest opposition party, was asked to form a government by President Gašparovič on 23 June 2010. Radičová was installed as Slovakia's first female prime minister on 8 July 2010, heading a
coalition government
A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...
of the liberal
Freedom and Solidarity (SaS), the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH), the ethnic Hungarian
Most–Híd party, and Radičová's SDKU-DS. Between them, this center-right coalition had 79 out of 150 seats.
Radičová pledged that her new government would cut state spending to reduce the budget deficit, while steering clear of tax rises. She stated, "We are ready to take responsibility over the country at a time when it is coping with the impact of a deep economic crisis and the irresponsible decisions of our political predecessors." She also said that Slovakia's guarantee of 4.5 billion euros to the EU stabilization fund was exorbitant, but she also stated that she will not block approval of the scheme within the EU, though she sought to renegotiate her country's contribution to it. Her new government sought, through coalition partner Most-Hid, to rebuild links with Hungary that were badly damaged by the adoption of contentious language and citizenship laws.
Radičová lost a vote of confidence in the parliament on 11 October 2011 after dispute on eurozone bailout leading to the fall of her government. An early
election
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operat ...
was held on 10 March 2012. Radičová did not submit herself as a candidate again. In 2013, she published ''Krajina hrubých čiar''
ountry of Full Stops a book on her experience as Prime Minister.
News Agency of the Slovak Republic, "Radicova Writing Book on Premiership Tenure, Promises No Scandal", Feb. 21, 2012.
Retrieved 2012-04-29.
Publications
* Radičová, Iveta. (1993). "Privatisation: The Case of Slovakia," ''History of European Ideas'' 17 (6): 735–740.
* Potůček, Martin, and Iveta Radičová. (1997). "Splitting the Welfare State: The Czech and Slovak Cases," '' Social Research'' 64 (4): 1549–1587. Available
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40971243
* Radičová, Iveta, ed. (1998). ''Sociálna Politika na Slovensku'' ocial Policy in Slovakia Available
http://archiv.vlada.gov.sk/old.uv/data/files/7195.pdf
* Radičová, Iveta. (2001). ''Hic Sunt Romales'' ere are the Romas Bratislava. Available
http://archiv.vlada.gov.sk/old.uv/data/files/7194.pdf
* Radičová, Iveta, and Ľuba Lesná. (2013). ''Krajina hrubých čiar'' ountry of Full Stops Bratislava: Ikar. ["Slovak ex-PM: Czechoslovakia's split was politicians' swindle,"]
'' Prague Daily Monitor'', 15 May 2013. Accessed: 17 May 2013.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Radicova, Iveta
1956 births
Candidates for President of Slovakia
Civic Democratic Party (Czech Republic) politicians
Comenius University alumni
Comenius University faculty
Female defence ministers
Female heads of government
Living people
Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2006-2010
Politicians from Bratislava
Prime Ministers of Slovakia
Defence Ministers of Slovakia
Labour ministers of Slovakia
Social affairs ministers of Slovakia
Slovak Democratic and Christian Union – Democratic Party politicians
Slovak sociologists
Women government ministers of Slovakia
Women prime ministers
Slovak women sociologists
Female members of the National Council (Slovakia)