SLOVENIA

officially Republic of Slovenia, Slovene Republika Slovenija country in the far northwestern Balkans. It is bounded on the west by Italy, on the north by Austria, on the northeast by Hungary, and on the south and southeast by Croatia. On the west it has a narrow, indented coastline on the Adriatic Seaabout 15 miles (25 km) north to southlying between Trieste (Italy) and the peninsula of Istria (Croatia) and centring on the city of Koper. The capital is Ljubljana. Area 7,821 square miles (20,256 square km). Pop. (1993 est.) 1,994,000. From 1919 to 199192 Slovenia was part of Yugoslavia. On June 25, 1991, Slovenia declared its independence from Yugoslavia, an independence that was internationally recognized in 1992. officially Republic of Slovenia, Slovene Republika Slovenija country in southern Europe. It is a small, topographically diverse country that abuts the northwestern Balkan Peninsula. Slovenia is bordered on the west by Italy's Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. On the southwest it is adjacent to the Italian port city of Trieste and occupies a portion of the Istrian Peninsula, where it has a short but important coastline along the Gulf of Venice. On the south, southeast, and east, Slovenia shares a long border with Croatia, and on the far northeast it touches on Hungary. The northern boundary separates it from the Austrian states of Burgenland, Styria (Steiermark), and Carinthia (Krnten). Its surface area is 7,821 square miles (20,256 square kilometres), and its capital city is Ljubljana. The Slovenes are a Slavic people related linguistically to peoples to the south, but the real matrix of Slovenia's culture is its Eastern Alpine location. Easily accessible mountain passes (now superseded by tunnels) have long shaped its character by channeling demographic, economic, social, political, and intellectual currents from both the Mediterranean and Transalpine regions of Europe. For most of its history, Slovenia was split among the Holy Roman Empire, Venice, Austria, and Hungary. During most of the 20th century it was part of Yugoslavia, but, with the dissolution of that federation, a sovereign, internationally recognized republican government now manages Slovenia's destiny for the first time in 1,200 years. Additional reading General works Valentin Leskovsek, Slovenia: A Bibliography in Foreign Languages, 2 vol. (199091), offers a broad selection of titles in non-Slovene languages, especially German, and lists major bibliographies in Slovene as well. Lawrence D. Orton, A Reader's Guide to Slovenia (1992), updates the previous work, though it lists only titles in English. Geography Mirko Pak and Milan Orozen Adamic (eds.), Slovenia: Geographic Aspects of a New Independent European Nation (1992), is a brief collection of essays that reflects the intellectual sophistication of the Slovene school of geography. Louis Adamic, The Native's Return: An American Immigrant Visits Yugoslavia and Discovers His Old Country (1934, reprinted 1975), by a writer very prominent in his own day, underlines the importance of Slovene emigration to the United States. Rado L. Lencek, Slovenes, the Eastern Alpine Slavs, and Their Cultural Heritage (1989), is a brief, interdisciplinary synthesis of uncustomary intellectual depth. History Thomas M. Barker and Andreas Moritsch, The Slovene Minority of Carinthia (1984), provides general information about Slovene history from the early Middle Ages to the 20th century. Thomas M. Barker, Social Revolutionaries and Secret Agents: The Carinthian Slovene Partisans and Britain's Special Operations Executive (1990), contains general data about Slovenia during World War II. Carole Rogel, The Slovenes and Yugoslavism, 18901914 (1977), discusses this important period, while two journal articles by the same author address more recent events: La dynamisme du sparatisme slovne, Conjonctures, 16:139152 (1992), and Slovenia's Independence: A Reversal of History, Problems of Communism, 40:3140 (JulyAugust 1991). Independence is also analyzed in Jill Benderley and Evan Kraft (eds.), Independent Slovenia: Origins, Movements, Prospects (1994). Slovene Studies (semiannual) contains significant though often highly specialized studies. Thomas M. Barker The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica Administration and social conditions Government The highest state authority is the president, who nominates the executive, promulgates laws passed by the assembly, and sets election dates. The president also commands the armed forces and declares national emergencies. Popularly elected, he sits for five years and may serve a second term. The legislative assembly has 90 directly elected delegates (including two representing Italian and Hungarian speakers). It is advised by a 40-member indirectly chosen, nonpartisan state council that represents economic and local interests. The executive consists of a prime minister and cabinet ministers. The cabinet must enjoy the support of an assembly majority. An autonomous judiciary caps the system of power separation. Local government, once subordinate, has become autonomous. Education Primary schooling is compulsory and lasts eight years from age 7 to 14. Secondary schools are either vocational or academic. The University of Ljubljana, founded in 1595 and reopened in 1919, has divisions including the natural sciences, the social sciences, the humanities and arts, education, law, medicine, and engineering. The University of Maribor, founded in 1975, is vocationally oriented. The Slovene government finances many research institutes, especially in the natural sciences and technology. A Slovene scholarly tradition reaches directly back to the 17th-century Carniolan polymath Johann Weichard, Baron von Valvasor. The premier centre of learning is the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, established in 1938. Cultural life Austrian Empress Maria Theresa's educational reforms of the 18th century produced a reading public for the eloquent Romantic poet France Preeren, Slovene literature's pater patriae. Novels followed in the late 1800s. The luminaries of the Modern school, the novelist Ivan Cankar and the poet Oton Zupancic, were the first of a long list of politically influential writers. Among interwar figures were the harshly realistic novelist Prezihov Voranc and the avant-gardist Srecko Kosovel. Poet Edvard Kocbek stood out during and after World War II; an antifascist, he suffered at the hands of ex-comrades. Postwar literary celebrities include Ciril Zlobec, Niko Grafenauer, and Drago Jancar. Music and the visual arts also have a rich heritage. Slovenes are especially proud of the Renaissance composer Jakob Petelin Gallus-Carniolus, known in the German-speaking world as Jacob Handl. Theater and the media are remarkably creative. An important, internationally active cultural group is the century-old Slovene Mother Bee (Slovenska Matica). Thomas M. Barker