Perić O. National minorities in the political processes of the Republic of Slovenia.
Dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the speciality 052 Political Science. Mariupol State University, Kyiv, 2023.
The dissertation highlights the problems of political participation and representation of national minorities in Slovenia at the present stage of the republic's development. The scientific work contains an analysis of the specifics of the national policy of the Republic of Slovenia and a description of the situation of the main groups of national communities - autochthonous, Romani and unconstitutional, with a special focus on the politicisation of these national minorities.
The introduction of the dissertation defines the relevance of the research topic, outlines the purpose and research objectives, scientific novelty and practical significance of the results obtained, and provides information on their testing. The scientific novelty of the dissertation is due to the very formulation of a complex and poorly researched topic. The Slovenian experience of combining the interests of the titular nation and national minorities is extremely interesting and useful for Ukraine. Ways of solving certain specific problems in Slovenia should be useful in Ukraine.
The practical significance of the findings lies in the possibility of using them for further study of ethno-national processes, as well as theoretical and practical searches for solutions to the problems of ensuring dialogue between the government and national minorities in Slovenia. The author of the study, as a representative of the Ukrainian diaspora in Slovenia and the leader of a diaspora organisation, will be able to rely on the results obtained in the course of her practical activities and establishing communications with the authorities.
Subsection 1.1. "Theoretical concepts and their interpretation: "ethnos", "ethnicity", "nation", "ethnic (national) minorities" is devoted to the classification and definition of the main categories of nationality, highlighting the content of the discussions that are still taking place in the contemporary political science on the content of the above concepts.
Subsection 1.2. "Slovenia's National Minorities in Contemporary National Studies" is devoted to the analysis of the degree of development of the problem of participation of Slovenia's national minorities in political processes, which is considered on the basis of the problematic principle, allowing to clearly trace the main research trends and to highlight the least studied areas of the problem.
Subsection 1.3. "Sources and Methodology of the Study" describes the state of the source base and the methodological basis of the dissertation study, the use of which is determined by the specifics of the research tasks.
Subsection 2.1 "International Legal Protection of National Minorities" covers the process of implementation of international legislation on minority rights in Slovenia after the declaration of state independence.
Subsection 2.2 "Guarantees of the Rights of National Minorities in the Legislation of the Republic of Slovenia" traces the process of developing Slovenia's own legislation regulating the rights of national minorities.
Subsection 2.3 "Ethno-political management of the Republic of Slovenia: institutions, tasks, areas of activity" is devoted to the analysis of the functioning of state bodies and institutions whose activities are focused on the problems of national minorities.
Subsection 3.1 "Practical Experience of Self-Government of the Italian Minority" outlines the main trends in the political participation of Slovenian Italians as one of the autochthonous national minorities.
Subsection 3.2. "Forms of Political Self-Realisation of the Hungarian Minority" identifies the levels of political participation of the Hungarians in Slovenia, which are conditioned by their status as a constitutional national minority and are similar to the similar rights of the Italian community.
Subsection 3.3 "The Romani minority in the political context" emphasises that Slovenian Romani have also been granted the right to representation at the local level, although the representatives of the Romani community themselves have not pursued any systematic policy of seeking equality of rights with autochthonous minorities.
Subsection 3.4, "Prospects for the politicisation of 'new minorities'", deals with the political rights of the most discriminated minority group - immigrants from the territory of the former Yugoslavia.
Key words: national minorities, Republic of Slovenia, ethnopolitics, identity, autochthonism, Romani issue, «new» minorities, ethno-cultural features, multicultural society, political process, lobbying, political communication, EU, Central and Eastern Europe, democracy.
