The emphasis of this research project is on democracy and its definitions in different situations. It is not as clear cut as political scientist might explain it, but it is a multilayered concept with multiple meanings within certain timelines and situations. Also publications are not in consensus on the theoretical definition of the concept and the understanding of democracy when it is implemented in practice. So the purpose of this research is to study on one side the perception of democracy and the effects of democracy on the other. This will be done through historical methods, both within a broad Slovenian context and different timeframes embedded inside a limited historical timeline. This way the focal point of the research will be the fluidity and contradiction within the concept.
The core research subjects are:
1. |
the understanding and implementation of democracy on the level of system and politics, including form of government, government system, issues of parliamentarian democracy and the work of parliament, voting system, political parties, in-party democracy, democracy-monarchy-republic relationship, and separation of power; |
2. |
the question of fundamental human rights and liberties through which the attitude towards equality (in sex and society) shall be treated as a separate subject; |
3. |
understanding a nation and national self-determination as well as detailed analysis of the relationship existing between the freedom of every individual and the freedom of an entire nation; |
4. |
the question of conceptual, cultural, political, confessional, social, and national cohabitation in Slovenia. Within this contextual framework, the attitude of national authorities towards Church authorities and vice versa will also be addressed. This also relates to the question of the position the Church had in society and its influence regarding the individual, society, liberty and the power of authority as well as different perspectives regarding the Church and processes of secularisation; |
5. |
the question of democracy viewed from the perspective of ownership; facing with corporate social models and totalitarian modernist systems (Communism, Fascism, Nazism); and the attitude towards revolution, war and the army. |
The purpose of this research is two-fold; one the one had it wants to provide and overall analysis, and on the other hand it wants to establish a meaning of the Slovenian experience with democracy from the late 19th century until the early 21st century, when Slovenia joined the EU. Within this framework a critical review of recent history will be conducted. The research findings will offer some competent answers to the question whether there is a connection between the process and difficult experience that shaped the perception of democracy in Slovenia today as well as social developments in the context of a modern Slovene society.
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