Va-PoReg Country Report Slovenia 1900–2025

After the dissolution of the Republic of Venice on 05/12/179712F¹, the Venetian Slovenia was passed to the Austrian Empire. The Slovenia was part of the French-administered Illyrian Provinces established by Napoleon, the Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary.13F² In the 1890s political parties were formed, including the Progressive (Liberal) Party, the Socialist Party, and the Slovene People’s Party. During World War I, Slovenes fighting in the Austrian army suffered huge losses against the Italians in incessant battles of attrition along the Soča front. In 03/1917 deputies in the Austrian Reichsrat forwarded a declaration in favor of Trialism, in that context, it signified the consolidation of all regions of the monarchy populated by South Slavs into a single independent political entity, under the rule of the Habsburg dynasty.14F³

On this date the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later Kingdom of Yugoslavia, was established. The idea of Trialism, an ideal of a partnership between South Slavs, Austrians, and Hungarians fell victim to the collapse of Austria-Hungary due to World War Ⅰ.15F³

In April 1941 the Kingdom was occupied and partitioned between Germany, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria and their client regimes.16F⁴ Slovenia was the only present-day European nation that was trisected and completely annexed into both Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy during World War II. Fascist Italy occupied south-central Slovenia, which was renamed the Province of Ljubljana, while Nazi Germany took over the northern and eastern parts of the country. Resistance started against the two occupational powers. In return Italian violence against the Slovene civilian population escalated. The Italian authorities deported some 25,000 people to concentration camps, which equaled 7.5% of the population of their occupation zone. After the Italian ‘Armistice of Cassibile’ on 09/03/1943, the Germans took over both the Province of Ljubljana and the Slovenian Littoral, incorporating them into what was known as the operation zone of Adriatic coastal region.17F² LIED does not provide any data during this specified period.

On this day, the German surrender marked the end of the occupation of the Slovenian territories, of which roughly 70% had been occupied by German forces. On 03/07/1945, and during the retreat of the German forces, a government dominated by Tito and the communists was established (Petrovich 1947: 508-9, Van Dyke 1947: 375). On 11/29/1945 Yugoslavia was fully liberated by the partisan resistance and the Socialist Federal Republique of Yugoslavia was officially proclaimed.18F² On the same day Federal Slovenia, later Socialist Republic of Slovenia and Republic of Slovenia, was proclaimed. It was one of the six federal Republics forming Yugoslavia and the nation state of the Slovenes.19F⁵ The first free multi-party elections in Slovenia were held on 04/08/1990 (Ramet 1993). These elections led to the formation of a government by Demos, a coalition of newly established parties, and were an essential step in Slovenia's transition to independence. Slovenia made plans to hold an independence referendum, but the Yugoslav government warned Slovenia that it would use force to maintain the union on 12/18/1990.20F⁶ According to FH, for 1991, the country is rated as free with a score of 5, which we interpret as rather free in our framework. LIED and V-Dem do not provide data for Slovenia prior to 1990.

On this date Slovenia, as the first republic, gained independence from Yugoslavia. The declaration of independence triggered the Ten-Day-War between Yugoslavia and Slovenia, which was won by Slovenia. Universal suffrage was already in place before independence and continued thereafter.21F⁷ Alojz Peterle of the Slovene Christian Democrats (SKD), who had been elected prime minister in 1990, became prime minister of the newly founded republic, but resigned in April 1992 due to a vote of no confidence. In the subsequent elections Janez Drnovsek of the party of Liberal Democracy of Slovenia (LDS) emerged victorious and took over office of prime minister. During the following years, his coalition saw several changes. Ultimately, in April 2000, Drnovsek lost a vote of no confidence and was temporarily replaced, but in the following elections in the same year, he regained power. In 2002, he was elected president and was replaced by his party affiliate Anton Rop. Rop was voted out of office in 2004 and succeeded by Janez Jansa of the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS). Jansa served one term and lost elections to Borut Pahor of the Social Democrats (ZLSD, formerly SDP) in 2008.⁸ While political freedoms and civil liberties are generally upheld, the present right-wing administration has made efforts to undermine the rule of law and democratic structures, particularly targeting the media and judiciary. This has elicited resistance from civil society. As per FH’s classification for 1991, the country receives a score of 5 as free, which we categorize as rather free. According to FH, for the rest of the assessed regime period, the country is categorized as free with a score between 2 and 4, which corresponds to our interpretation of free. Based on our observations, multiparty, executive and legislative elections were held during this period, which aligns with the observations of LIED. According to LIED political liberties were absent the first two years after independence and in 2021. Our interpretation of V-Dem’s PCLI indicates the presence of political liberties for the entire time except in 2021, when the PCLI switched into a range that, in our interpretation, indicates that political liberties were somewhat present. Since 1991, according to Polity5, the executive was subordinate to or held equal power with other institutions, indicating executive parity or subordination. For the relevant regime period, V-Dem's JCE and LCE are both interpreted by us as indicating comprehensive constraints on the executive until 2022 and are interpreted by us as robust (JCE) and as comprehensive (LCE) afterwards. Despite ongoing challenges, corruption persists, albeit actively countered by the media. The judiciary has demonstrated a commitment to impartial decision-making.22F⁹ Election observer organizations declared that the elections in 2020 were conducted efficiently according to minimum democratic standards but noted some irregularities that affected turnout and results.23F¹⁰ Based on our observations, multiparty, executive and legislative elections were held during this period, which aligns with the observations of LIED. Since the country’s independence LIED affirms the elections as competitive. In addition, the elections are constantly considered as free as free by V-Dem’s EF&FI. V-Dem’s CEI indicates cleanliness for the whole period. Slovenia has a parliamentary system of government with a multiparty system. The bicameral parliament is composed of the National Assembly and the National Council. On 04/24/2022 parliamentary elections, to elect the members of the National Assembly, took place. The Freedom Movement (GS) won the largest share of votes and since then leads a coalition with the Social Democrats and The Left.24F¹¹ The election was deemed free and fair by the OSCE.25F¹²

Liberal Democracy as of 07/01/2025 continued.

Additional sources (Gallenkamp/Kassner 2010)