Education and science as a soft power tool in Slovakia and V4 countries
DOI 10.14746/ssp.2019.4.7
Peter Čajka
Faculty of Political Science and International Affairs, Matej Bel University
ORCID: 0000-0003-0568-394X
Education and science as a soft power tool
in Slovakia and V4 countries1
Abstract: Already in the Middle Ages, in times of the first universities, education
was an important source of knowledge and social status. Nowadays, education,
together with its quality and level of teaching, is used as a means of pursuing
national interests abroad, as well as influencing local elites, and sometimes even
a larger population. High level and good quality of education is one of factors
contributing to the relationship between states. The role of education as regards
international prestige and the position of individual states has risen in recent years
chiefly due to major changes in the global economy and a corresponding shift of
values, values which have become important for the modernization of societies.
Thus, education has become increasingly important, especially due to the growing significance of knowledge in the globalized world. Education has become an
increasingly important factor in international relations and it translates into the
soft power of a state.
Key words: education, science, universities, patents
Introduction
A
high level of quality education is one of the factors that build interstate power relations. The role of education in international prestige
and the position of countries has increased considerably in recent years,
mainly because of major changes in the global economy and the corresponding shift in values that have become important in the processes of
modernizing the society. In the most developed countries, this economic
transformation, sometimes referred to as the fifth “Kondratieff Wave,”
has brought at least a partial shift from an industrial oil-based production
model to a knowledge-based production.
1
This research was supported by the project, which has received funding from
the VEGA No. 1/0437/19.
132
Peter Čajka
ŚSP 4 ’19
In modern times, education is used as a means of promoting national
interests abroad, as well as having an impact on local elites and sometimes even the wider population. In the case of higher education, soft
power is also exercised through its impact on intellectual and scientific
life and the spread of ideas around the world.
Educated people have a higher degree of trust among themselves.
Higher education leads not only to an economically successful society,
but also to a healthier democracy, based on a sense of universal trust,
as well as on the possibility of influencing what is happening in their
country. Education is also an effective policy tool. In a democracy-based
society, educated people are involved in decision-making and are politically active. Education therefore has a positive relationship to a healthy
democracy.
The position of education and research in V4 countries
The Slovak Republic is a small and relatively young democratic
state. Since its independence, the young republic has had to go through
a fundamental transformation process – the communist regime has
been replaced with democracy and centrally planned economy has
turned into a market economy. At the international level, the country has seen three landmark events. The turning point was the year
of 2004, when Slovakia’s accession to the European Union was accompanied by its accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
In addition, in 2009, the Slovak Republic, unlike the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary, switched to the common European currency
– Euro. The currency is now used by nineteen out of twenty-eight
Member States.
The Slovak Republic has several resources that can potentially increase its soft power. In terms of its territory and population (5.4 million), a relatively small country in the EGPI ranking (2018) ranks 63rd
in terms of its soft power. (see Table 1) Since joining the European
Union, Slovakia has been worse off by nine ranks, ranking 54th in 2005.
In 2018, tourism (31.4% – 43 place), sport (23.8% – 45 place) and information (21.6% – 63 place) contributed most to the soft impact. Surprisingly, the least soft power contribution comes from culture (1.4%
– 64 place).
9.4/54
Soft Presence
index/rank
36.7/42
28.7/33
Soft Presence
index/rank
30.5/28
Soft Presence
index/rank
EGPI
index/rank
49.9/35
EGPI
index/rank
21.7/40
27.4/39
38.3/45
38.3/30
69.5/29
29.2/38
44.3/40
10.9/58
19.4/57
2010
Source: Own processing by Elcano Global Presence Index.
Hungary
Poland
Soft Presence
index/rank
34.8/44
16.3/61
2005
EGPI
index/rank
Czech Republic EGPI
index/rank
Slovakia
V4
29.0/39
39.8/45
40.4/29
69.5/30
31.4/36
44.2/41
11.5/56
20.1/59
2011
35.5/35
43.2/46
45.4/27
75.7/31
34.8/37
48.8/40
11.2/58
20.6/60
2012
33.7/38
42.4/44
49.6/27
92.3/28
38.2/33
47.3/40
11.1/60
20.7/63
2013
Elcano Global Presence Index
35.4/36
42.9/43
47.5/28
72.2/32
36.9/35
46.1/41
10.9/64
20.6/64
2014
43.9/32
45.5/42
49.8/29
70.6/32
37.9/34
47.5/41
11.3/63
20.4/63
2015
38.4/36
47.5/39
13.0/63
19.3/62
2017
40.9/33
44.1/40
50.7/29
42.3/34
43.0/44
54.9/29
68.9/ 32 71.7/ 32
36.2/36
46.0/39
12.7/63
18.8/62
2016
41.2/36
44.6/ 44
52.6/29
75.1/31
35.0/41
48.1/42
12.8/63
19.9/63
2018
Table 1
ŚSP 4 ’19 Education and science as a soft power tool in Slovakia
133
134
ŚSP 4 ’19
Peter Čajka
Order of the V4 States within the EGPI
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
2005
2010
Slovakia
2011
2012
2013
Czech Republic
2014
2015
Poland
2016
2017
2018
Hungary
Source: Own processing by Elcano Global Presence Index.
The positioning of individual countries in the EGPI chart shows that
the level achieved in the V4 countries is very different in terms of both
the overall position of the countries in the global EGPI indicator and
in the education indicator. The above indicators show that the position
of the Slovak Republic is the worst of the V4 countries. During the period 2010–2018, the Slovak Republic recorded a long-term decline in
the ranking, while at the same time the country had the largest drop by
6 places in the ranking. The other countries under review recorded a fairly balanced course in their placement with minimal differences. At the
same time, the Czech Republic and Hungary recorded a significant fall,
respectively by 3 and 4 places.
The quality of higher education is also reflected in QS World University Rankings (QS WUR). The Slovak Republic is in the first thousand
for the period 2012–2020 by three universities – Comenius University
in Bratislava, Slovak University of Technology in position # 751–800
and Technical University of Košice in position # 801–1000. (QS WUR,
2019) However, none of the Slovak universities is represented in this
ranking for the whole period. The Comenius University appeared for
the first time in the ranking in 2016, when it also achieved the best rank-
ŚSP 4 ’19 Education and science as a soft power (...truncated)
