3 Minute Europe: Slovenia

Kainoa Tandy

22WQ UCOR 1400 Eurovision

Jan 28, 2022

 

National Identity: A Brief Look Into the National identity of Slovenia 

If I asked you what the national identity of the United States of America was, some people (especially Europeans) might be inclined to say something along the lines of , “guns, cheeseburgers, freedom, and guns”. While some might consider these niche stereotypes, to be a countries national identity. In this context I am talking more about national identity through its (re)definition. This explains national identity more as the feeling of belonging to a larger collective self or family (the nation) that is developed within a group of people (who may never meet) that stretches back in time, to all past generations where the founding myths took place (Anderson, 1983, p. 6). However, national identity isn’t just formed from the nation itself but also from other outside contrasting nations and groups of people within the nation itself. Who are contrasting nations you might ask? Simply put, these “others” are any other group of people or nation that contest said nation’s claim to land or unique characteristics (and with it its authenticity) (Triandafyllidou, 1998, p. 594). This blog post will discuss the national identity of the South-Central European country of Slovenia and the effect that the “others” have on its forming and the disputes towards becoming their own separate and distinct nations through the history and formation of these many countries in the Central Europe area.

 

A Look Into Slovenia

 

If some of you are wondering Slovenia is located small country located in the Julian alps (between Austria and Croatia). As a younger country (only being an independent country since 1991) you may expect it to have an undeveloped sense of national identity (and a lack of uniqueness) that would make it unamusing to discuss. However, south Slavic speaking nations (the origin of Slovene) have existed from the 7^th and 8^th centuries, leading to a rich and complex history with plenty of “other” nations spanning hundreds of years. With the Slovenian identity being formed largely by the language (Slovene), there was a huge birth of cultural identity when during the Protestant Reformation the many local dialects of south Slavic people were consolidated into one singular language in the 16^th century by the Slovenian Protestant preacher and scholar (and now national hero) Primoz Trubar, creating a much stronger sense of unity and the foundation for cultural among the Slovene speaking people (Encyclopedia.com, 2022). When the Slovenian people tried to create a distinct language (and with it the unification because of religioned followed) in order to liberate and distinguish itself from its Turkish invaders this is an example of Triandafyllidou’s first type of intenral others. As she states this type of others is, "the dominant nation or ethnic group of a multinational state from which the ingroup seeks to liberate and/or distinguish itself" (Triandafyllidou, 1998, p. 602). 

 This sense of unity was seen throughout history, such as in 1867 when the German and Hungarian majority tried to Germanize the minority (which included the Slovenian people) by giving power to the majority through creating a dualistic Austrio-Hungarian monarchy system. The Slovenian people in response adopted the motto, "Umreti nočemo!" ("We refuse to die!"), held mass political meetings, calling for a coalition of minorities (Croatians and Serbians) in order to have the power to call for a “United Slovenia”. These events were largely influenced by the recent unification of near by countries such as Italy, Germany, Greece, and Serbia of the time as well (Encyclopedia.com, 2022). Slovenia was unfortunately unable to achieve this goal of being released from the domination of Austro-Hungary until World War One where Slovenia got to experience new levels of freedom and independence alongside Croatia and Serbia (despite facing extreme loss in other aspects) through the forming of the new multinational state of Yugoslavia in 1929 (Britannica, 2022). After extreme struggle in World War Two (through the loss of many lives and being inhabited and annexed by other countries) Slovenia once again a republic in the restored Yugoslavia. However as time progressed the differences between these groups developed. Eventually, Yugoslavian leader, Slobodan Milošević wanted to turn Yugoslavia into Greater Serbia (and remove non Serbians) and as feelings of oppression by the Serbians who the Slovenians didn’t share language or religion led to disputes and ideas of the breakup of Yugoslavia. Despite efforts to keep Slovenia together, as tensions continued to rise between the two groups of people on June 1991 Yugoslavia attempted to seize complete control of Slovenia and attempted to invade Slovenia which Slovenia put up strong resistance and in 10 days (thanks to the intervention of the European Community) Slovenia was able to disassociate itself with Yugoslavia (Encyclopedia.com, 2022). This led to Slovenia finally being under its wishes of being in rule of their own land for the first time since Caranthia lost its independce in the 8^th century. I would say in this example, Yugoslavia is an example of Triandafyllidou second type of internal others who through, "different language, religion or mores are perceived to threaten the cultural and/or ethnic purity of the nation" (Triandafyllidou, 1998, p. 601). Since the independece of Slovenia and the breakup of Yugoslavia, there hasn’t been many other others that have pressured Slovenia. Slovenia currenlty has border disputes with only one other country with that being Croatia. This is because when Slovenia left an agreement of precise border wasn’t made and there has been some confusion for the right to areas of the Gulf of Piran and with it access to international waters (Masarykova, 2018). In this case Croatia, is an example of Triandafyllidou’s second external others. With Triandafyllidou’s stating this as a, "rival nations (or nation-states), neighbours of the ingroup, which contest some part of the ingroup's homeland or which are in possession of lands that the ingroup claims to be part of its own territory"( Triandafyllidou, 1998, p. 602). However, neither group is aggresively claimign right to the territory and is seen more as a petty dispute among the two.

  In conclusion, the national identity of Slovenia is one that is extremely complex. However, most of its national identity appears to have been underpinned and held together by the Slovene language (and with-it occasionally religion) as well as the strong unity of the Slovenian people as well as their ancient wish for rule of their own land. This emphasis on unity through language is even seen today where in the citizenship laws require potential canidates to pass a Slovene language exam (U.S. Embassy, n.d.).

 

 

 

References

Anderson, B. (1983). Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Verso Books.

 

Britannica. (2022). Yugoslavia. In Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/place/Yugoslavia-former-federated-nation-1929-2003

 

Encyclopedia.com. (2022). Slovenia. In Encyclopedia.com. https://www.encyclopedia.com/places/spain-portugal-italy-greece-and-balkans/former-yugoslavian-political-geography/slovenia#HISTORY

 

Masarykova, R. (2018, June, 15). Croatian-Slovenian border dispute persists. ICRP Budapest. http://culturalrelations.org/croatian-slovenian-border-dispute-persists/#:~:text=Croatia%20and%20Slovenia%2C%20both%20former%20Yugoslav%20countries%2C%20have,their%20long-term%20dispute%20over%20the%20Gulf%20of%20Piran.

 

Triandafyllidou, A. (1998). National identity and the “Other.” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 21(4), 593–612. https://doi.org/10.1080/014198798329784

 

U.S. Embassy. (n.d.). Slovenian Residence / Citizenship. U.S. Embassy in Slovenia. https://si.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/local-resources-of-u-s-citizens/residencework-permits/#:~:text=Applicants%20for%20Slovene%20citizenship%20must%20pass%20a%20Slovene,on%20dual%20nationality%20and%20loss%20of%20U.S.%20citizenship.