Politicisation of the European Union in Slovenia in the twenty years of its membership

Lajh, Damjan (author), Novak, Meta (author)

Ever since Slovenia became independent, the European idea has been viewed fondly by the political elite and the public. The absence of any successful Eurosceptic parties has meant the main goals concerning European integration became national projects. Euroscepticism has remained limited, although in more recent years politicisation has steadily grown through political parties’ positions on EU issues. At the same time, the country’s political elite has lost sight of the specific strategy Slovenia should play in the EU. Moreover, alignment with other EU member states has begun to vary depending on the ruling party. After twenty years of membership, this has led to Slovenia being seen as one of the more submissive actors in EU policymaking. In the article, by applying an analytical framework of politicisation, we consider the changing attitudes to the EU in Slovenia through the twenty years of its membership. The central research question is: in which ways have European issues become politicised over the last twenty years in Slovenia? The research question is addressed by considering a chronological approach and analysis of events, participation in European elections and public opinion data. We argue that, as a newer member state, Slovenia politicises European issues to a limited extent.

• Language: English
• Keywords: politicisation, membership, challenges
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 01.09.2024
• Year: 2024
• Number of pages: Str. 331-353
• Numbering: Vol. 20, no. 3
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-164770
• UDC: 061.1EU:327(497.4)
• ISSN on article: 1801-3422
• DOI: 10.2478/pce-2024-0015
• COBISS.SI-ID: 214498563
• Publication date in RUL: 11.11.2024

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Politics in Central Europe
• Publisher: Department of Political Science and International Relations of the Faculty of Philosophy and Arts of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen
• ISSN: 1801-3422
• COBISS.SI-ID: 24713309

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
• Description: A creative commons license that bans commercial use, but the users don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: politiziranje, članstvo, izzivi

Projects

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: P5-0136-2022
• Name: Politološke raziskave