Slovakia's accession to the EU: A return to the west or a seized opportunity?

This year, 18 years have passed since the moment Slovakia became a member of the European Union. Currently, Slovakia is a long-time member of the Union, however, this status has not always been self-evident. At the turn of millennia, Slovakia was in the middle of an accession process, which was marked with success, as well as problems. This bachelor thesis focuses on the accession process of Slovakia to the European Union in the years 1994-2004. Using theoretical principles of constructivism and post-structuralism, the author is analysing nominalisation and predicalisation of the European Union in Slovak public discourse based on two logical principles - logic of expected consequences and logic of appropriateness. Furthermore, this thesis focuses on which of these logical approaches was prevalent in the public discourse. Author works with materials from political and media sphere from a given period. The first part of the thesis focuses on the theoretical and methodological background necessary for the analysis. In the following part, author describes historical context of the period. In the empirical chapter, author analyses chosen relevant materials. In the last part of the thesis, author provides answers to research questions