Post-fascism in Slovenia? A local articulation of the European drift

Abstract

Over the past five years, Slovenia has experienced an increasing level of pressure on liberal-democratic institutions established after independence, proclaimed in 1991. This has resulted in the acceleration of two processes, which concur with current structural and identity crisis of the European Union. The first process is the dismantling of the corporatist political-social model, which used to entail a significant public-sector presence in the economy. Secondly, the strengthening of an increasingly exclusive sense of belonging to the political community, a dynamic fostered by the 2015 refugee crisis. These developments have underpinned Slovenia's peripheral position in Europe and generated exclusionary dynamics in relation to citizen participation in the system. These dynamics concur with politics of "post-fascism", as defined by Moklós Tamás, insofar as they have been reproduced without substantially changing the institutions of liberal democracy. In spite of circumstantial divergences, the dominant political factions of the ruling class, including social-liberals and right-wing nationalists, have contributed to both processes.