Slovenia, until recently a “success story” of the transition from communism to democracy and the rule of law, is experiencing its biggest constitutional and political crisis since its independence in 1991. The Slovenian constitutional model is currently facing a simultaneous economic and political crisis. The article argues that there are two principle reasons for this apparent decline of the Slovenian model. First, because of its relatively privileged position vis-a-vis other East Central European countries, Slovenia has been a reluctant reformer, doing very little to actually change its institutional setup from the communist past. Second, when Slovenia implemented reforms, it did it in a very particular way: as an uncritical model-taker of policy models from the West. This mimicry was done in a fairly top down, bureaucratic way, creating institutions without deep enough roots in society, and without necessary trial and error style usually needed for successful evaluation of proposed reforms.
The article focuses on rise of nationalism and xenophobia in Slovenia. It starts by considering the issue of unrecognized minorities in Slovenia (former Yugoslavia nations) that have no minority rights, despite being large groups, as many international organizations for the protection of minorities have pointed out. A particular issue in this relation for Slovenia is the ‘Erased’ – the individuals who did not acquire Slovenian citizenship when Slovenia seceded from federal Yugoslavia – and despite the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decision, the Slovenian state has still not recognized their rights, which were violated in the post-independence period. The article also examines two other minorities in Slovenia, the Jews and the Roma. The article finds Slovenia to be a closed, non-globalised society which, in spite of its constitutional declaration to protect the rights of minorities and other national communities, is seeking to retain a politically and culturally homogeneous nation state.
Roma in Europe continue to be victims of racial discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance. Despite formal legal efforts and declarations from the European Union (EU), the European Council, and EU member states where large numbers of Roma reside, real shifts have yet to occur. This article will attempt to elucidate the factors underlying the actual lack of improvement or even stagnation of Roma, as well as determine who is responsible for the situation in Europe, where a policy of publicly declared concern for Roma rights appears side by side with blatant violations. Cases of systematic persecution and degradation of the Roma minority will be highlighted, as will the question of the political obligation to protect human rights on the levels of the individual states, the EU and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). This article will present the declarative "European" stance on discrimination towards Roma on the one hand, and the actual discrimination that occurs outside the framework of projects and programs in some European states on the other. Despite the efforts that have been made, Roma issues are still entrenched in the national, regional and local levels of political, legal, economic and social-educational structures.
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