Bárdy: Cooling Hose

Who really is the woman who was labelled a “political dead body” yet beat even Robert Fico in presidential polls? Why, despite that, did she not become the first female head of state and ended her career in high politics? Why can't she stop herself when talking about children and social policy? These are just a few of the questions that the first fictionalised biography of Iveta Radičová seeks to answer. However, the book RADIČOVÁ is not a traditional biography charting the story of Slovakia's first female prime minister and professor of sociology. It is more of a personal conversation between Iveta Radičová and Peter Bárdy, which shows us not only her strength and integrity, but also her sensitivity and vulnerability. Aktuality.sk's editor-in-chief spent dozens of hours with Iveta Radičová in personal conversations and passionate discussions to penetrate the defensive wall she has built up over the years. He was not interested “only” in Radičová the prime minister, who tried to change Slovak politics, which had been shaped almost exclusively by men. He wanted to know what her childhood and adolescence were like under the totalitarian regime, as well as her family life with Stano Radič and how she coped with (among other things) his sudden death. How she experienced the 1980s in normalised Czechoslovakia, November 1989 and the turbulent years of building Slovak democracy. Why she wanted to play a clean game not only in life, but also in politics. How she dealt with the fall of the government and her departure from high politics. Could she be a populist like Fico if it meant the end of “our people” in politics? The woman who refused to do politics in the style of 'you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours' and believed in the power of arguments and reason. Even at the cost of her resignation and departure from the political scene, but not from public life, where she is still present today. Because Iveta Radičová cannot remain silent – freedom and authenticity are written in her DNA. With all the pros and cons that this entails. Thanks to this, she broke the Slovak taboo that only alpha males, cold-blooded strategists or populist loudmouths could sit in the Government Office. And she began to pave the way that Zuzana Čaputová was able to successfully follow a decade later.