Projects / Programmes
Economic impact on the political turning points in Slovenia from the "Vormaerz" period till independence 1991
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 6.01.00 |
Humanities |
Historiography |
|
Slovenija, Habsburška monarhija, Jugoslavija, Srednja Evropa,19. stoletje, 20. stoletje, politična zgodovina, gospodarska zgodovina, demokracija, avtoritarizem, demokratizacija, ekonomske krize
Researchers (6)
| no. |
Code |
Name and surname |
Research area |
Role |
Period |
No. of publicationsNo. of publications |
| 1. |
06406 |
PhD Zdenko Čepič |
Historiography |
Researcher |
2007 - 2009 |
442 |
| 2. |
00840 |
PhD Aleš Gabrič |
Historiography |
Researcher |
2007 - 2009 |
847 |
| 3. |
16350 |
PhD Andrej Pančur |
Historiography |
Researcher |
2007 - 2009 |
254 |
| 4. |
15635 |
PhD Mateja Režek |
Historiography |
Researcher |
2007 - 2009 |
180 |
| 5. |
00386 |
PhD Franc Rozman |
Historiography |
Researcher |
2007 - 2009 |
632 |
| 6. |
07574 |
PhD Peter Vodopivec |
Historiography |
Head |
2007 - 2009 |
829 |
Organisations (4)
Abstract
The starting point of the proposed research project is a thesis that critical situations in the economy had great influence on democratic political turning points; however, the reasons for democratic transitions were never exclusively economic. Therefore, the project group will research the problem of the actual influence of the economy to the political turning points. Chronological framework of the research will be the economical crisis before the March revolution in 1848 and Slovene attainment of independence in 1991. The project group will research the set problem within the framework of nine complexes of contents, from which each will represent carefully selected cases from Slovene history. Within the framework of these complexes of contents the performers will, on one hand, identify, analyze and interpret various factors, because of which democratization could occur. On the other hand they will research why some democratic transitions were not successful and which factors enabled the enforcement of authoritarianism. At the same time the performers will compare economical factors with the remaining social, external and internal political, cultural, and ideal factors, which influenced the political turning points. In the process the performers will, on one hand, put the researched cases of the Slovene history into the broader researching complex of the Habsburg monarchy as well as the first and second Yugoslavia. On the other hand, they will compare the history of this space with broader European and universal history. By means of this set comparative research of different factors from different historical periods, and in different historical circumstances, the research project will explain the actual influence of the economy to democratic and non-democratic political turning points in Slovenia. This will explain the influence of the economy on the development of Slovene democratic traditions.
Significance for science
The question of the relationship between economy and politics and the influence of economic changes on the political processes has already been explored extensively by the European and American historiography. However, the Slovenian historiography has not yet paid much attention to it. According to the supposedly Marxist model that had been considered valid for long years, it held that economic changes unavoidably caused changes in the society and politics. However, for quite a while we have been aware that the influences between economy, society and politics are far from unidirectional and that the relations between the economic, social and political fields are much more complex. The research that has been carried out is the first of its kind in the Slovenian historiography and it convincingly supports the realisation that the economic influences on the social and political processes should not be generalised. Economic crises can undoubtedly be one of the reasons for the intensification of social and political relations, but they are usually not the only reason: in some historical periods they encouraged the processes of democratisation, while in others they hindered them. Therefore the research will, when it is published in its entirety, contribute to the further historiographic research of the connectedness between economy, society and politics in the past and also to the increased interest in the social and economic historical questions, which the Slovenian historiography still does not pay enough attention to. Simultaneously, in our opinion, the research is also an original contribution to the understanding of the Yugoslav crisis in the 1980s, since it demonstrates clearly that the reasons for that crisis were not simply economic and national, but especially political and ideological.
Significance for the country
We are convinced that the research of the past relations between economy, society and politics is definitely important for the current politics, since on one hand it demonstrates clearly that these relations are by no means uniform, while on the other hand it also shows that in the last one hundred and fifty years the social and political crises were generated mostly by the social and political relations, not (only) by the critical economic circumstances. Naturally, economic crises may have different political effects: if in many cases in the past they had indeed encouraged the processes of democratisation and political consolidation, the two largest economic crises in the last hundred and fifty years (particularly in 1873 and 1929) strengthened the conservative aspirations and hindered the processes of liberalisation and socio political openness. As the research carried out demonstrates and as similar research elsewhere point out, the political consequences of the economic flows during the crises in the past usually depended more on the political stability and reputation of political institutions in the actual environment than on economic circumstances and increasing economic tensions. That would definitely also be a useful message for the contemporary Slovenia.
Most important scientific results
Final report,
complete report on dLib.si
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2008,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
