Projects / Programmes
January 1, 2022
- December 31, 2027
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 6.01.00 |
Humanities |
Historiography |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 6.01 |
Humanities |
History and Archaeology |
state, statehood, political thought, political practice, politics from below, politics as the life world
Data for the last 5 years (citations for the last 10 years) on
April 24, 2024;
A3 for period
2018-2022
| Database |
Linked records |
Citations |
Pure citations |
Average pure citations |
| WoS |
33 |
42 |
39 |
1.18 |
| Scopus |
122 |
229 |
191 |
1.57 |
Researchers (15)
Organisations (1)
Abstract
Political History programme group focuses on the political history of the period from the 19th to the 21st century. Apart from Slovenia's political history and the history of the preceding states, the programme group also focuses on political history from the global, comparative, and transnational perspective. BASIC RESEARCH QUESTIONS: WHAT, WHO and WHERE is the state? In the 20th century, the processes of the deconstruction and reconstruction of statehood transformed and upgraded the Habsburg statehood heritage, but they did not altogether abolish it or replace it with something new. In the 20th century, the concept of state was closely associated with the issue of people's prosperity and national homogeneity. Socialist Yugoslavia experimented with the political practices that were supposed to accelerate the withering away of the state, though at the same time, its state concept was closely related to the idea of the national through the federal system. In public, the attainment of Slovenian independence was perceived as an equalisation between a nation and state ("Slovenians got their own state"), while with the European integrations, Slovenia achieved a dimension that transcended the national state: EU regulations and legislation. As A. Landwehr emphasised (2003), the concept of state had not "always existed", and it had also not fallen out of the sky. Our approach transcends the general conviction that the state is merely a neutral framework that constitutes the nation as a political entity. It is a complex, historically conditioned phenomenon that cannot be understood in a one-sided manner, especially not in the narrow national narrative framework. MODULES Political thought (M1) Analysing discourse of the historical actors, the concepts they used, and the changing meanings of these concepts as well as the political performances carried out using language. Political practice (M2) We will study the political practice through the phenomena of political parties (continuity of research), parliamentarism, and diplomacy. Politics from below (M3) The studies of social movements from below highlight the neglected historical actors and episodes and recognise the mechanisms potentially employed by these actors to influence the changes from below. Politics as the lifeworld (M4) To understand the political world, the lifeworld of the actors needs to be understood. Who decides to become a politician, anyway? How do they enter it? How do they shape their personal lives? JOINT PROJECTS The 1990-2025 period P1: PROJECT: Contemporary Political History of Slovenia 1990-2025 Modules M1, M2, M3, M4. The 1945-1989 period P2: PROJECT: Socialist Alliance of Working People Modules M3, M4. The 1848-1945 period P3: PROJECT: Slovenian Political Discourse in the Multinational Context: Texts and Comments; Selected Texts of Slovenian Political History: 1848-1945 The period from 1959 to date P4: PROJECT: Our Own Intellectual History Modules M1, M4.
Significance for science
The programme group's research efforts will contribute to a better understanding of the phenomenon of the state through the perspective of political thought (M1), political practice (M2), politics from below (M3), and politics as the lifeworld (M4). The answer to the question of what is the state is laconically simple: we are the state. We can understand this question more broadly or narrowly. In the broader sense, the state includes all citizens, while it includes those who implement/possess the state authority in the narrower sense. The anthropologist T. Mitchell underlined the problematic dichotomies regarding the state vs the civil society as well. The dichotomy has an appearance of two coherent separate systems in which the state appears as an external force that penetrates the society. Therefore, we will focus our attention on the practices that blur the line between the civil-social sphere and the state (to consider the state within or as a part of the society rather than outside of it), which addresses the issue of the understanding of the state in terms of culture, state representations, and everyday practices. It is precisely the ambivalent image of the state or the people's attitude towards it that is interesting. It can be the subject of criticism; people simultaneously address it, turn to it in the search for protection and justice, and invest their emotions and hopes in it. The state is closely connected with affective economies, investments and experiences, as well as morality.
Significance for the country
Our research endeavours will make an impact on the identification and resolution of the following crucial challenges faced by contemporary society: 1. The contemporary redefinition of politics. In the last four decades, changes have taken place regarding the nature of the political at the European and global level: the struggles for material equality and social rights, which were in the centre of the mass politics as of the 19th century, have been replaced by the struggle for individual human rights. New forms of political mobilisation have appeared, focusing on the social discrimination against certain groups (women, the LGBTQ community, ethnic and religious minorities, etc.). On the one hand, this has encouraged identity politics, while on the other hand, it has activated the specific agendas that are relevant for the entire society. However, as a reaction, the new culturalism and re-traditionalisation have strengthened. Interestingly, the category of material inequality in the political discourse has been disappearing precisely while the material inequalities in the society have increased significantly. The identification and analysis of the redefinition of politics represent a crucial part of the Modern Political History of Slovenia project. 2. Individualisation processes. The redefinition of politics has been accompanied by the similarly long-lasting process of individualisation in many fields of our societies. The celebration of the individual has been accompanied by the demise of numerous collective forms of social organisation. The state policies have diminished the scope of the state activities (from the reduction of the welfare state to the decline of public libraries). This is a transnational process, which has been more severe in the former socialist countries. The identification and analysis of the individualisation process represent a crucial part of the Modern Political History of Slovenia project. 3. Social cohesion. As a political tool, social cohesion involves the construction of shared values and reduction of wealth disparities and enables the cooperation of people regarding everyday challenges. The Council of Europe defines social cohesion as the societies' capacity for ensuring well-being, diminishing the differences, and preventing marginalisation. Social cohesion is critical for the functioning of the modern contemporary state, and the research into this phenomenon needs to be approached from the longue durée perspective. 4. Political participation. The question of when and how people become politically active cannot be answered without detailed insight into the political history in a concrete society or without knowing the regional and global historical processes. Political participation belongs among the phenomena/processes with a transnational as well as transgenerational dimension.
