Anthropological approach to political culture: The case of Slovenia

Abstract

Research to date into the political culture of Slovenia has shown that traditional patterns of political action dominate, and that the norms of political culture are still mainly objectively determined. Continuing to retain such traditional forms of social and political action and communication, which strongly influence the social and political decision-making process, can crucially influence the most important political decisions that will need to be taken on the national level. The results of the three dimensions of political culture (subjective, social and objective) show that social complexity has been increasing rapidly, particularly during the transition period. This contributes to the on-going increase of instability in the political system and, as such, represents an objective obstacle to its consolidation and democratisation. The specific role and importance of subjective factors of political culture could only increase on the basis of the consolidation of the political system. Finally, some significant features of rationalisation and modernisation of the political system, which have been revealed in my analysis, could be developed even more if they were not obstructed by the existing competitive pattern of conflict resolution, the increasing role of social and political violence, the antagonism between the interests of capital and the interests of labour, the very low legitimacy of democracy, and inexperienced and insufficiently active voters. To date, there have not been sufficient indications of an independent and autonomous political public in Slovenia.