Danica Fink-Hafner

• Professor, Ph.d.
• University of Ljubljana

Scholarly research into Estonia, Hungary and Slovenia has shown that the idiosyncrasies of the new EU countries (especially with respect to institutionalizing and centralizing the co-ordination of core executives in managing EU affairs at home) persist. They are complemented by trends toward convergence (such as growing co-ordination efforts and a...

For the former Yugoslav republics involved in the 1991–1995 War, the EU’s demands are not only defined by the relationship of these EU-aspiring countries to EU political criteria and harmonization with the acquis communautaire, but primarily, and very importantly, in relation to maintaining peace and developing security in the region. Our primary r...

In 2004 female candidates won a relatively large proportion of Slovenian MEP seats due to effective institutional engineering and despite the: a)persistent dominating political culture (unfavourable to women in politics);b)predominant party-centric electoral system and election campaign; and c) further marginalisation of female candidates compared...

While more general research findings on the impact of European integration on party system competition in post-socialist EU countries remain inconclusive, some studies have shown direct interdependence between the deepening of democratisation and its Europeanisation. Whereas in successfully democratising new EU members EU pressure to satisfy the po...

Only recently have the direct and indirect ‘European’ impacts (of political outcomes at the European level) on domestic political systems started to be studied (i.e. Spanou, 1998; Bulmer and Burch, 1998 and 2001; Kassim, Peters and Wright, eds. 2000; Goetz and Hix, eds. 2001; Knill, 2001; Schneider and Aspinwall, eds. 2001; Goetz, ed., 2001; Laffan...

This chapter summarizes the gaps in the theory about the role of parties in the context of changes in governing, where parties persist as political institutions with different roles in relation to democracy. In explaining the factors that have an impact on the relationship between parties and democracy, the case study confirms the important role of...

In the current world, there are many empirical challenges to both parties and democracy. A long-term simplistic view of the party–democracy relationship helps neither in understanding the current challenges nor in the context-sensitive analysis of parties and party systems and their relationship with democracy. This book critically assesses early l...

The V-Dem data for Slovenia reveal three main periods with distinct evaluations of democracy: (1) a transitional low evaluation, (2) a rather high and constant evaluation of democracy in the period just after the adoption of the new constitution (1991) and before the COVID-19 crisis and (3) a radical decline in democracy (2020–2021). The analysis o...

In a search for the link between parties and democracy, several strands of literature are analysed: early liberal thought, empirical liberalism literature and literature on illiberalism and a variety of post-World War II democratic ideals at the national, international and global levels. Political parties are found neither in early liberal thought...

Based on the indicators presented in Chapter 5 , four changes to the party system in Slovenia are revealed: the transitional party system (1989–1991); the consolidation of the first party system based on the 1991 constitution (1992–2000 elections); the destabilization of the first party system (2004–2008 elections); and the continuous radical renew...

In the literature, several theses can be found on the relationship between the characteristics of party systems and democracy. Particular attention is paid to those party system characteristics that are believed to have negative impacts on democracy. These are the deinstitutionalization and the polarization of the party system; the findings on the...

A variety of relationships between parties and democracy is summarized on the basis of political philosophy and political science literature. It is found that parties: (1) are not explicitly mentioned in relation to democracy, (2) are positioned at various points in time in relation to democracy (with a lack of clarity as to which comes first); (3)...

Parties, party systems, context and democracy are all dynamic phenomena. This is why, in research into their mutual relationships, it is important to create a methodology that includes the relevant variables, their indicators and the time factor. This chapter contains an overview in several sections of how to trace changes in democracy, context, pa...

The article examines the deliberation of higher education (HE) scholars and practitioners on research issues in the HE field, which has taken into account the complexity of current trends of deglobalisation and changing characteristics of globalisation. More precisely, the article offers a systematic review of the ideas developed by focus group par...

In Slovenia, political parties have been the key actors in opting for a proportional electoral system and constitutional choice of a parliamentary system, both of which are believed to help to develop a consensual type of democracy. However, a vicious circle involving a fragmented party system and a proportional electoral system has not only led to...

This article discusses the methodology and practice behind planning and executing the Comparative Interest Group-survey project (CIG-survey). The CIG-survey includes surveys among national populations of organized interests in 9 European countries and at the European Union level. Although surveys are a useful and reliable way to collect data on a v...

The book analyses the impact of globalisation on internationalisation of universities. Peculiar aspects of this book are as follows: 1) it looks at a combination of direct and indirect impacts of globalisation on universities’ internationalisation strategies (though various policy levels) ; 2) it pays particular attention to the role of the EU as a...

The paper presents the Delphi method and tests its usefulness when searching for a consensus on definitions, especially in a particular social science field. Based on an overview of the characteristics and uses of the Delphi method, a special Delphi design for searching for minimal common definitions of globalisation, Europeanisation and internatio...

Central and Southeast European Politics since 1989 - edited by Sabrina P. Ramet October 2019

Although the higher education (HE) research field has been developing dynamically, it has also seen the fragmentation of research, still devoid of clear definitions and demarcations among globalisation, inter-nationalisation and Europeanisation in HE. The article presents the results of a search for the common elements of these definitions based on...

Although party systems (PSs) have been studied a lot, there is still insufficient research into the transition from a PS characterised by the predominance of liberal-based political parties into a PS in which ethnic-or religious-based parties dominate. The article helps rectify this deficiency by combining a quantitative approach using numerical me...

This final article is a synthesis of findings from the seven country studies in this special issue. Although there are characteristics common to all group systems, particularly those transitioning to democracy, there are also significant differences. Analysis of these differences reveals a direct relationship between both the level of socioeconomic...

Slovenia has a rich tradition of associations and interest group activity dating back to the 19th century. To some extent, the development of the group system was stymied by the 60 years of authoritarian rule from the early 1930s to the late 1980s. However, the resilience of this tradition is evident in major developments in group activity since th...

Different authors have recently revealed several trends towards the personalisation and presidentialisation of politics in many Western liberal democracies, but also in post-socialist democracies. In the chapter, we analyse (trends of) presidentialisation in five parties that won elections in Slovenia, a country mostly described as having a premier...

The article examines the relationship between the national politicians and their civil servants in the reception of the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) policies. Our comparative case study of three policy fields in Slovenia identifies variations in the politico-administrative relations among different policy sectors. These variations can be expla...

This comprehensive coverage of public affairs and interest group activity in the Balkans has 2 objectives. One is to produce the first study focusing solely on interest groups in each of the 7 countries of the former socialist Yugoslavia. The second is to compare developments across the region to assess the extent to which this study reflects exist...

Understanding the political development of the Balkans can be challenging even for historians and social scientists. This is particularly the case with the region's past and present interest group systems as virtually no research is available on the subject. With this in mind, this article provides basic background on the region and its fledgling i...

This article investigates the extent to which European Union (EU) accession and EU funding contribute to the professionalization of interest groups in Slovenia. Have EU accession and funding had a more profound impact on the professionalization of interest groups in Slovenia than the shift from socialism to capitalism? Our novel empirical evidence...

This article contributes to the integration of political science knowledge with higher education science knowledge in order to define the globalisation of public policies in the field of higher education policy. The conceptualisation is based on a review of the literature as well as an analysis of articles published in the period 1999 to 2016 in tw...

In the EU multilevel polity, domestic interest groups seek to shape EU legislation by accessing both national and EU institutions. Previous studies indicated that institutional and issue contexts as well as organisational characteristics shape their strategies of interest representation. However, we know much less about how alignments and arguments...

Each country chapter of this volume provides an overview of the national lobbying industry, taking into consideration also institutional, historical, and cultural variables, and placing the analysis of lobbying and public affairs into a wider picture. A short overview of the country’s political system is given, illustrating the institutional struct...

Universities are arguably the most globalised institutions (Marginson and Considine, 2000) and are forums for a conference of different cultures. Under pressure from the latest wave of globalisation, universities have been either opting for cooperation (the main strategy of Central European universities) or competition (more present in the strategi...

Although there are numerous definitions of populism, the distinction between the different forms of populism in relation to changing forms of societies has not yet been conceptualised. Such a typologisation requires a focus on changes in political paradigms relating to changing forms of societies, and on particular reactions to processes of globali...

The article addresses the bias in interest representation within the EU by examining the lobbying strategies of national interest organisations within the EU’s multilevel political system. Both our theoretical framework, which includes the determinants of a national interest organisation’s decision to act at the EU level, and the data analysis from...

This article tackles the tensions in consociational political systems between the politics of the collective and the politics of the individual citizen. It focuses on the particular form of consociationalism that was introduced by the international community into Bosnia and Herzegovina as a political solution following the 1991-1995 war. Based on a...

ResumeEn utilisant une approche theoriquement plurielle, cet article examine les determinations sociales, economiques et culturelles des conflits nationaux et regionaux presents dans l’ancienne Yougoslavie. Son argument est que la desintegration de cet etat multinational etait inevitable, etant donne les niveaux differents de developpement des Repu...

This article tests the thesis that the internal agential characteristics of the Green party segment in a relatively open and dynamic party system are a crucial factor in the long– term success or failure of Green parties in that system. The case study of Slovenia offers a natural laboratory to test this thesis, because its political system is chara...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the education-job match of political science graduates from Slovenia, as well as from selected EU countries, in the context of other disciplines. In the frame of contested theoretical approaches, the implications of matching the knowledge that is acquired during education to the skills that are need...

Based on a social constructivist framing, this article seeks to address the gap in the literature on the impact of Europeanisation on the national interest group political culture in general and in the post-communist context in particular. The impacts of Europeanisation on interest group domestic policy behaviour, in terms of national interest grou...

This article outlines both the overall structure of the INTEREURO Project (Comparative Research on Interest Group Politics in Europe) and the theoretical foci, research activities and data sets generated by its several modules. We provide this description for two purposes. First, it provides a necessary backdrop for understanding the remaining essa...

ABSTRACT: This article attempts to fill the gap in the literature regarding the determinants of voter behaviour at presidential elections in a post-socialist context, taking into account the changing patterns of competition both within the party system (parliamentary elections) and at presidential elections. Slovenia is taken as a case study of pre...

In this article, we assess the effects of democratic transition, the introduction of a capitalist economy, the creation of a newly independent state and international economic and political integrations on the employment potential of political science graduates. While we particularly focus on Slovenia, we will also consider the broader challenges f...

This article addresses a gap in the literature concerning the survivability of new political parties in existing parliamentary systems. It focuses on the particularities of post-communist party systems and considers the impact that the recent international financial and economic crisis has had on decreasing the legitimacy of the established parties...

This article addresses a gap in the literature concerning the survivability of new political parties in existing parliamentary systems. It focuses on the particularities of post-communist party systems and considers the impact that the recent international financial and economic crisis has had on decreasing the legitimacy of the established parties...

In 1999, the Bologna Declaration declared one of its principal goals to be the increased employability of young graduates. Today, thirteen years and three generations of Slovenian Bologna political science graduates later, the chances for these cohorts integrating successfully into the labour market has significantly decreased, which in fact is the...

This article focuses on how domestic and EU-level political factors affect the functional aspect of the national coordination of EU affairs. Due to the idiosyncrasies of the post-communist countries which have joined the EU since 2004, an analysis of dynamic changes in the national systems of coordination needs to focus on three factors: (a) functi...

The paper focuses on the question of what quotas ‘mean’ for policy-making behaviour. While it analyses evidence related to one country (Slovenia), it is comparative in terms of including two levels of government – the national parliament and the European parliament. On one hand, it builds on previous research studies in Slovenia (e.g. Antić and Gor...

This article examines the recent processes of globalization and (within this framework) Europeanization, with a focus on the changes in national political systems (particularly in post-communist EU member states) due to the pressures of these processes. The main thesis is that national executives have been gaining power in relation to the legislati...

The objective of this book is to contribute to an increase in the knowledge of the concepts, forms and consequences of discrimination in Croatian society (with an emphasis on gender and ethnic-based discrimination) as well as legal and institutional frameworks for its combating among citizens, women’s NGOs and ethnic minority NGOs and politicians....

Založba Aristej je izdala knjigo Dvajset let slovenske države, v kateri so združili moči nekateri slovenski humanisti in družboslovci, da bi v kulturnozgodovinskem kontekstu opozorili na ključne dosežke, težave in trende v delovanju slovenske države, upoštevajoč pri tem tudi izkušnje, ki smo jih Slovenci že imeli pred razglasitvijo neodvisnosti. Št...

During the last two decades, Europeanization has become an attractive research area and an integral part of the study of European Union (EU) politics. It has become a fashionable and yet contested concept, especially since the turn of the twenty-first century (Olsen, 2003), and as such it has developed many different faces. It can be said that, in...

Variations in relationships between interest groups and seven post-communist parliaments (Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine) are found to be determined by the constitutional system, the strength of civil society and institutionalisation of the social partnership, as well as by international organisations. Member...

Research into patterns of political participation (based on the European Social Survey data 2002, 2004, 2006, ESS contextual data and event data and the EJPR Political Data Yearbook data) has revealed the persistence of the political participation pattern characteristics of post-socialist countries detected already at the start of the 1990s. Within...

This article addresses two key questions about the convergence of education policies in the European Union (EU). How does the open method of coordination (OMC), a new governance instrument for the Europeanisation of education policies, change existing national education policy making and how can the OMC and national responses to it be researched? T...

During the last twenty-five years, Slovenia has experienced deep social changes involving an economic and political transition from a socialist system, the creation of an independent state with a market economy, a liberal-democratic type of political system, favorable socio-economic trends as well as the successful integration of the new state into...

The article provides an analysis of the determinants of the success of transitions to democracy based on a combination of qualitative comparative analysis of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia; and hierarchical clustering. The key finding is that one can reveal co...

". . . presents a valuable assessment of how Slovenia has been transformed, or not, in the decade since declaring independence in 1991...a welcome contribution. Students of Slovenia will find it valuable, as will those interested in post-communist developments in Central and Eastern Europe."-Carole Rogel, Emeritus, History Department, Ohio State Un...

Avtorji v monografiji obravnavajo politično državljanstvo na kompleksen način. Kombinirajo namreč natančen pregled teorij in konceptov državljanstva, empirično raziskovanje normativnih (samo)opredelitev državljanov glede aktivnega poseganja v politiko in empirično raziskovanje praks državljanstva. Poleg historično-razvojnega pogleda na opredeljevan...

In the introduction we defi ned "civic culture" as a coherent set of values that include tolerance and respect for the harm principle, support for individual rights, popular participation in politics, and human equality. In this chapter we provide an overview of the key developments in Slovenia since the watershed year of 1988 and assess the genera...

In undertaking an investigation of the relationship between values, the political system, and the specifi c function which education might play in underpinning a sociopolitical system, we are mindful of the fact that this theme occupied the minds of Plato, Erasmus, Helvetius, Locke, Rousseau, Dewey, Durkheim, and others. We are also aware that not...

Empirical data gathered from surveys of MPs and interest groups in Slovenia reveal that the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia is a relatively powerful and accessible political institution. Parliamentary working bodies are perceived by MPs and interest groups as the focal point of their contacts. While MPs find interest groups to be both...

In this article, certain problems and dilemmas in the search for a system of managing the European Union (EU) are presented with respect to the problems and dilemmas in identifying one model of regulation that would fit a variety of entities creating a common supranational economic and political system. Based on certain historical lessons from mult...

The article describes the emergence of a modern civil society in the context of democratic transition in Slovenia. Empirical research has shown that modern interest groups are developing and gaining sway in the policy-making process and, moreover, that some institutionalized forms of consultative politics are becoming part of the new political syst...

Slovenia's history and geographical position have made its emergence from ‘real socialism’ idiosyncratic. The global political change that marked the end of Marxist‐Leninist rule was ushered in by a number of gradual changes concerning both modifications to Slovenia's political culture and the development of social factors. The new social movements...