Never again: Collective trauma and populism in Slovakia’s debate about the US Defence Cooperation Agreement

This article investigates the public debate surrounding Slovakia’s ratification of the Defence Cooperation Agreement with the United States in Winter 2021–2022. In particular, I focus on the crucial role of collective memory and cultural trauma, especially the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Pact forces in the August 1968, in the social and political conflict sparked by the treaty. To understand the problem, I draw on the cultural sociology of collective trauma. I argue that while cultural trauma theory often focuses on deep issues of identity and meaning, it is worth paying attention also to a more ‘tactical’ use of cultural trauma in political discourse that deploys the moral and cognitive mappings of trauma to quickly mobilize emotions and achieve political goals. I show that the anti-Defence Cooperation Agreement politicians effectively captured the symbolic framework, leaving the centre-right supporters struggling for interpretative dominance.