The Far Right in Slovenia
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MASARYK UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF SOCIAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE The Far Right in Slovenia Master‟s thesis Bc. Lucie Chládková Supervisor: doc. JUDr. PhDr. Miroslav Mareš, Ph.D. UČO: 333105 Field of Study: Security and Strategic Studies Matriculation Year: 2012 Brno 2014 Declaration of authorship of the thesis Hereby I confirm that this master‟s thesis “The Far Right in Slovenia” is an outcome of my own elaboration and work and I used only sources here mentioned. Brno, 10 May 2014 ……………………………………… Lucie Chládková 2 Acknowledgments I would like to express my gratitude to doc. JUDr. PhDr. Miroslav Mareš, Ph.D., who supervised this thesis and contributed with a lot of valuable remarks and advice. I would like to also thank to all respondents from interviews for their help and information they shared with me. 3 Annotation This master‟s thesis deals with the far right in Slovenia after 1991 until today. The main aim of this case study is the description and analysis of far-right political parties, informal and formal organisations and subcultures. Special emphasis is put on the organisational structure of the far-right scene and on the ideological affiliation of individual far-right organisations. Keywords far right, Slovenia, political party, organisation, ideology, nationalism, extremism, Blood and Honour, patriotic, neo-Nazi, populism. 4 Contents 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 7 2. Methodology .......................................................................................................................... 9 2.1 Research objectives and research questions ..................................................................... 9 2.2. Methodology of research and data collection ................................................................ 11 3. Theoretical background of the far right ................................................................................ 13 3.1 Ideological typology of the far right ............................................................................... 14 3.2 Typology of far-right organisations ................................................................................ 15 3.3 The far right in Central East Europe ............................................................................... 16 4. Far-right political parties in Slovenia ................................................................................... 18 4.1 Slovenian National Party (Slovenska nacionalna stranka, SNS) .................................... 18 4.1.1 Party history and development ................................................................................. 18 4.1.2 Position of the SNS in the party system, election results and social base ............... 20 4.1.3 Organisation and leadership of the SNS .................................................................. 22 4.1.4 Ideology and programatics ....................................................................................... 24 4.1.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 26 4.2 Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka) ..................................... 27 4.2.1 Party history and development ................................................................................. 27 4.2.2 Position of the SDS in the party system, election results and social base ............... 29 4.2.3 Leadership of the SDS – Janez Janša ....................................................................... 31 4.2.4 Ideology and programatics ....................................................................................... 34 4.2.4.1 First government of Janez Janša (2004-2008) ................................................... 35 4.2.4.2 Early elections in 2011 ...................................................................................... 38 4.2.4.3 Second government of Janez Janša (2012-2013) .............................................. 39 4.2.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 43 4.3 Extra-parliamentary far-right political parties ................................................................ 45 4.3.1 Slovenian National Right (Slovenska nacionalna desnica, SND) ........................... 45 4.3.2 Party of the Slovenian People (Stranka slovenskega naroda, SSN) ........................ 46 4.3.3 National Party of Labour (Nacionalna stranka dela, NSD) ..................................... 47 4.3.4 Republicans Slovenia (Republikanci Slovenije, RS) ................................................ 47 4.3.5 National Social Union of Slovenia (Nacional-socialna zveza Slovenije, NSZS) ..... 48 5. The neo-Nazi and skinhead movement in Slovenia ............................................................. 49 5 5.1 Violent manifestations of the far-right scene ................................................................. 50 5.2 Informal far-right organisations ...................................................................................... 54 5.2.1 Blood and Honour Slovenian Division .................................................................... 54 5.2.1.1 Main ideology, organisation and activities ....................................................... 54 5.2.1.2 Attitude to violence ........................................................................................... 56 5.2.1.3 The connection of Blood and Honour to state institutions and parties ............. 56 5.2.1.4 International cooperation ................................................................................... 58 5.2.2 Headhunters Domţale .............................................................................................. 59 5.2.3 Slovenian radicals (Slovenski radikali) .................................................................... 60 5.2.4 Autonomous Nationalists of Slovenia (Avtonomni Nacionalisti Slovenije) ............ 61 5.3 Patriotic organisations .................................................................................................... 62 5.3.1 Hervardi ................................................................................................................... 62 5.3.1.1 Main goals and ideology ................................................................................... 63 5.3.1.2 Main activities ................................................................................................... 65 5.3.1.3 External relations ............................................................................................... 66 5.3.2 Tukaj je Slovenija .................................................................................................... 67 5.4 Football hooligans .......................................................................................................... 68 6. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 71 7. Sources ................................................................................................................................. 77 8. List of Abbreviations ............................................................................................................ 92 9. List of Tables ........................................................................................................................ 94 Number of characters: 179 468 6 1. Introduction Slovenia experienced the rise of nationalism after its independence in 1991 when Slovenia split from Yugoslavia and for the first time in history Slovenia gained its own independent state. The plurality of opinions that was enabled by the transition to democracy gave opportunity to the far right to emerge as well. During first years after the socio-economic transformation Slovenia experienced the development of far-right extremism in the form of the skinhead movement and one nationalistic parliamentary party which later served as a breeding ground for other similar but less successful political parties. Another turning point came in 2001, when the fragmented far-right scene was unified under the label of the Blood and Honour Slovenian Division. In 2004 Slovenia joined the European Union and this move was accompanied by the foundation of so called patriotic organisations aiming to protect Slovenia‟s identity. Recently Slovenia was affected by the economic and financial crisis which is observed with alarm in Slovenia because of possible social upheavals and rise of the far right. The Slovenia‟s far-right scene has not been in the centre of attention of academics due to its relatively small size as a country and low level of far-right extremism. However, Slovenia has been experiencing different manifestations of the far right in various forms of organisation from political parties, across formal and informal organisations to pure subcultures. So far different far-right organisations expressed different ideological affiliations such as nationalism, neo-Nazism or populism. Moreover, the novelty of Slovenia‟s democracy, which is accompanied by underdeveloped civil society as well as imperfect anti- extremist policy, is a crucial factor in the rise of the far right. The Slovenian far right also gets inspiration from its foreign counterparts but not only from its neighbouring countries that have far worse situation with their far-right