Before That: The Formation of Slovenian Statehood Prior to Its Independence
Before That: The Formation of Slovenian Statehood Prior to Its Independence

Summary/Abstract: In his article, the author discusses the formation of Slovenia in the “short” 20th century as the predecessor of the independent and sovereign Republic of Slovenia. The establishment of the Republic of Slovenia as an independent and sovereign state is considered a dissolution or the opposite of the unification into the Yugoslav state in 1918 and 1943/45. The break-up was legally and politically based in self-determination, a principle on which the Yugoslav state was formed and on the grounds of which the Republic of Slovenia severed its political and legal ties with Yugoslavia. The author thoroughly examines the three instances in which self-determination was exercised as a way in which the Slovenians either entered the Yugoslav state (1918, 1943/45) or departed from it (1990/91). Although the principle of self-determination was asserted by a different entity in each of these instances, their purpose and substance are connected in terms of cause as each previous instance served as a prerequisite for the success of the next. Especially without the second instance of self-determination, which served as the basis for the second Yugoslavia (1943/45–1991), it would be impossible to achieve the third self-determination, which led to the formation of the independent and sovereign state of Slovenia in 1991.

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