UMB‘s Institute for Democracy has its roots in the university’s post-communist development and the rapid institutional response to the rise of a neo-Nazi movement that swept the 2013 regional elections in the university’s home of the Banská Bystrica region, historically a center of anti-Nazi movement in Slovakia. UMB academics worked together with civic organizations and local activists and set up successful initiatives aimed at countering this threat.  The resulting tight-knit collaboration with local communities and Slovakia’s civic sector produced a significant pool of talent in defending democracy and was formally institutionalized in the Institute for Democracy.