Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Amid the disintegration of Yugoslavia that began in the late 1980s and Slovenian independence, communist reformists, liberal civil society, and conservative nationalists transformed into the new political elite. There were no significant programmatic differences between these new leaders: all agreed to the accession to the European Union (EU) and NATO, the privatization of the economy, a wide-ranging neoliberal agenda, and playing up nationalistic cultural values against what was seen as the “wild” Balkans. As the former Communist Party, which had strong ties with new economic elites, transformed itself into a left-leaning social democratic party, the main political differentiation between “left” and “right” revolved around the role of the Catholic Church in civil society and debate over the role of the partisan movement against fascism during and after World War II – specifically, allegations of postwar killings of defeated collaborationists. Thus, there was almost no opposition to the dismantling of state protections, the restoration of market relations, and joining the western capitalist world. Civil society actors of the 1980s were integrated within the political administration or pacified as non-government organizations (NGOs), frequently with the support of westerners such as George Soros. Ironically, human rights violations increased dramatically. While Slovenia was not engaged ... log in or subscribe to read full text