Young Social Democrats ( sk, Mladí sociálni demokrati, MSD) is a

social-democratic Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

youth organization in

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

connected to the political party

Direction – Social Democracy Direction may refer to: *Relative direction, for instance left, right, forward, backwards, up, and down ** Anatomical terms of location for those used in anatomy ** List of ship directions *Cardinal direction Mathematics and science *Direction ...

History

''MSD'' was founded in 2002 from the merger of ''Social Democratic Youth of Slovakia'' (SDMS) and ''Young Democratic Left'' (MDL). While formally an independent organization, ''MSD'' has strengthened its ties with the social democratic Smer party by signing a pact on mutual cooperation in 2008.

Political position

''MSD'' plays a decidedly pragmatic role focusing on promoting democratic

participation Participation or Participant may refer to: Politics *Participation (decision making), mechanisms for people to participate in social decisions *Civic participation, engagement by the citizens in government *e-participation, citizen participation ...

, the

rule of law The rule of law is the political philosophy that all citizens and institutions within a country, state, or community are accountable to the same laws, including lawmakers and leaders. The rule of law is defined in the ''Encyclopedia Britannica ...

ecological Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

behaviour. It is strongly supportive of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

and strives for

economic development In the economics study of the public sector, economic and social development is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and o ...

cushioned by a

welfare state A welfare state is a form of government in which the state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal opportunity, equitabl ...

. The organisation has courted controversy amongst other social democratic youth organisations for its support for

Robert Fico Robert Fico (; born 15 September 1964) is a Slovak politician who served as the prime minister of Slovakia from 2006 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2018 (when he resigned). He has been the first leader of the Direction – Social Democracy (SMER-SD) p ...

, the current prime minister of Slovakia, who is known for his

opposition to immigration Opposition to immigration, also known as anti-immigration, has become a significant political ideology in many countries. In the modern sense, immigration refers to the entry of people from one state or territory into another state or territory ...

and other political positions.

References

External links

Official homepage of ''Mladí sociálni demokrati''
*
Basic information about MSD Slovakia in English
{{YES member organisations Youth wings of political parties in Slovakia Youth wings of social democratic parties Direction – Social Democracy