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History and Government
History: Settled in four distinct areas (Styria, Carniola, Carinthia and Gorizia) since the fifth century, Slovenia was later variously dominated by the Bavarians, the Frankish Empire of the Carolingians, and the largely Germanic Holy Roman Empire, which lasted in one form or another from the ninth to the 19th century. The Slovenes themselves were a Slavic people, converted to Roman Catholicism. In the 14th century, the Slovene territories became hereditary possessions of the House of Habsburg. After 1867, when the Habsburg realm became the Dual Monarchy of Austria and Hungary, the Slovenes fell under the jurisdiction of the Austrian Crown. Despite considerable socio-economic progress locally thereafter, the ancient threat posed to Slovene survival and cultural identity by Germanisation pushed local political sentiment towards supporting the growing south Slav movement of the Croats and Serbs. Thus, following the destruction of the Austro-Hungarian Empire during World War I, Slovenia became a part of the new ‘Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes’ in 1918 (renamed ‘Yugoslavia’ in 1929). In 1941, when the Axis powers dismembered Yugoslavia, Slovenia was carved up between Germany, Italy and Hungary.
Local resistance, initially from non-communist nationalists, was hijacked by the Yugoslav Communist Party led by Josip Broz Tito, himself partly of Slovene origin. In 1945, after the communists emerged as victors, Slovenia became a constituent republic of the new Yugoslav federation. The ruling League of Communists of Slovenia (LCS) supported the Croats in the demand for an effectively confederal Yugoslavia during the 1960s and 1970s, although never to the point of provoking Tito into repression, as took place in Croatia in 1971. Among other things, this caution made a relatively liberal political atmosphere in Slovenia possible, culminating in a pluralist ‘Slovene Spring’ after Milan Kucan became LCS leader in 1986. The nationalist Kucan steered Slovenia towards independence following multi-party National Assembly elections in April 1990 which brought to power a six-party centre-right coalition, calling itself DEMOS, led by Premier Lozle Peterle.
After 14 months, during which both Slovenia and Croatia became increasingly alienated from Belgrade, Slovenia declared independence. The central Government immediately sent in armoured convoys to take control of federal border posts and key installations in the capital Ljubljana. The army was clearly not expecting the resistance put up by well-prepared Slovene irregulars and after a few weeks of sporadic and largely inconclusive fighting, a ceasefire was reached. By October 1991, all federal military forces had left the republic, and Slovenia proclaimed its independence on 8 October. Full international recognition followed in January 1992, after which the DEMOS Government collapsed, having achieved its sole objective of securing international recognition.
Slovenia was admitted to the United Nations in May 1992. A non-party government of technocrats took over pending new elections. Slovenia is the only one of the ex-Yugoslav republics to have a substantial, as opposed to a merely nominal, multi-party democracy, although it is on the road to permanent coalition politics with three parties (the customary European mix of centre-right, centre-left and liberal) as the main contestants.
The present government, which took office in October 2000, is typical of this pattern, consisting of a four-party coalition led by the Slovenian Liberal Democratic party, the centrist grouping which has consistently been the largest party in the national assembly. The result was similar to those of 1992 and January 1996. One constant presence, until his recent retirement, was Milan Kucan, who completed his second and final presidential term in 2002. Another has been Janes Drnovsek, who first took over as premier in 1992 and remained at the helm for the next ten years. In 2002, following the most recent presidential poll, Drnovsek replaced Kucan as president. Anton Rop took over as premier.
Slovenian foreign policy has focused on improving links with Western Europe, with the eventual aim of joining the EU. The EU began membership negotiations with Slovenia in early 1998. By and large, these proceeded smoothly: the only real obstacle was a series of interrelated disputes with Italy over territory and property acquired by Yugoslavia after the 1947 post-war settlement in the region. Slovenia will be the first of the former Yugoslav republics to join the EU. This is very likely to be with the next batch of ten new members scheduled to join in 2004.
Government: The constitution promulgated in December 1991 allows for the election of a new bicameral legislature. The first chamber is the 90-seat Drzavni Zbor (National Assembly) in which 50 seats are indirectly elected, 38 directly elected and two reserved for Slovenia’s Italian and Hungarian ethnic minorities. The upper house, known as the Drzavni Svet (National Council) has 22 directly elected members and 18 members chosen by an electoral college. The upper house has a mainly advisory role but retains powers of veto over decisions of the Drzavni Zbor. All those elected serve a four-year term. The State President, a largely ceremonial figure, is also elected, but for a five-year term.
Copyright © 2003 Columbus Publishing Ltd.
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