Abstract

This thesis examines how the return of populist government in Slovakia after 2023 affected the autonomy and role of the foreign-policy bureaucracy. Drawing on do-cument analysis and four expert interviews, it traces institutional change across three mechanisms: politicisation, personalisation, and centralisation. The findings suggest that transformation operated primarily through informal rather than formal channels, producing an institution that retained its formal structure while losing the analytical and advisory capacity that had defined its prior role. Even fragmented, incoherent populist governance can cause significant institutional damage that is harder to detect and reverse precisely because it lacks a clear overarching logic. …víceméně