From Conspiracies and Intergovernmental Relations: Slovenian Democratic Decline

• In Event: The Problematique of Democratic Backsliding in Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract

In the third wave of democratic changes in early 1990s when Central and Eastern European (CEE) political landscape changes radically and democratization processes started also in eastern part of the continent, Slovenia was one of the most prominent countries with best prospects for rapid democratic growth. Slovenia somewhat luckily escaped Yugoslav civil wars and was towards the end of 20th Century already on the path towards stable and consolidated democracy with the most successful economy in entire CEE area. After the dissolution of Yugoslavia, Slovenia had simple and straight-forward political goal, i.e. to join the European union as soon as possible and this way consolidate its place among the most developed countries within the region. After some setbacks, this goal was accomplished in so far biggest enlargement to the Union in May 2004. But what happened after Slovenia managed to successfully achieve its pair of major political goals? We will search for an answer to this question in this paper and elaborate why Slovenian voters are increasingly distrustful towards political institutions, why are so-called new political faces and instant political parties so successful and why Slovenian democracy lost leading place among consolidated democracies in CEE.

Authors

• Miro Hacek, University of Ljubljana

• Simona Kukovic, School of Advanced Social Studies