Slovenia: Interest group developments in a postsocialist‐liberal democracy

DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1867
Published date01 May 2019
Date01 May 2019
SPECIAL ISSUE PAPER
Slovenia: Interest group developments in a postsocialistliberal
democracy
Meta Novak |Danica FinkHafner
University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social
Sciences, Slovenia
Correspondence
Meta Novak, University of Ljubljana, Faculty
of Social Sciences, Slovenia.
Email: meta.novak@fdv.unilj.si
Funding information
Javna agencija za raziskovalno dejavnost RS,
Grant/Award Number: P50136
Slovenia has a rich tradition of associations and interest group activity dating back to
the 19th century. To some extent, the development of the group system was stymied
by the 60 years of authoritarian rule from the early 1930s to the late 1980s. However,
the resilience of this tradition is evident in major developments in group activity since
the return to democracy. In addition to influences from the past, including a
neocorporatist tradition, is the impact of Slovenia's process of integration into the
European Union. This article considers the extent to which the modern nature of
the interest group system is both constrained by hangovers from the past but
enhances by European integration, both of which have affected the development of
Slovenia's majoritarian democracy.
1|INTRODUCTION
Slovenia has the most developed and institutionalized interest group
system of the seven countries of the former Socialist Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia (SFRY). As such, it is most similar to those in the
advanced democracies (Novak & HafnerFink, 2015). Slovenia's group
system now includes old power groups, new power groups, and
institutionalized interest groups. In addition, there are interests that
emerged during the economic and political crisis of the old regime
during the 1980s and the economic and political transformation after
the demise of the SFRY. Nevertheless, there remain several undeveloped
aspects of the group system, particularly regarding professionalization
and expertise.
Part of the purpose of this article is to explain the reasons for the
coexistence of traditional and modern elements in Slovenia political
advocacy system. The analysis is built around the question: Why, as
one of the most economically and politically developed Central
European countries, does Slovenia's interest group system continue
to lack the political capacity and professionalization of advanced
Western democracies?
In approaching this question, we first identify the sources used in
this article. Next comes an overview of the characteristics of
Slovenia's group system. Drawing on this overview, we identify the
factors that have shaped the contemporary lobbying environment.
This is followed by three sections exploring the range of groups,
strategies and tactics, and group influence. The interest groupdemocracy
relationship is the subject of the next section. The conclusion identifies
some directions for future research.
2|EXISTING WORK ON SLOVENIAN
INTEREST GROUPS AND THE SOURCES FOR
THIS ARTICLE
Compared with other former Yugoslavian countries, the research on
interest groups and civil society organizations in Slovenia is fairly
extensive. In addition to these secondary sources, we drew on original
data.
2.1 |The existing literature and other secondary
sources
Political science research includes work on new social movements that
emerged in the 1980s and following independence (FinkHafner,
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This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any
medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.
© 2019 The Authors Journal of Public Affairs Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd
DOI: 10.1002/pa.1867
J Public Affairs. 2019;19:e1867.
https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1867
wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa 1of13

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