Party System Change and Challenges to Democracy in Slovenia

Abstract

In the context of a post-socialist party system, stabilisation is believed to be linked to democracy. Based on that assumption, it could be inferred that party system instability is not compatible with the consolidation of democracy. However, research has found that the destabilisation of party systems does not endanger democracy in Western countries. The case study of Slovenia reveals that dynamic changes in the party system and consolidation of democracy may also be feasible in the post-socialist context. There are factors additional to party system instability that may together produce a shift away from democracy, as happened in Slovenia in the period between 2019 and 2022 under Janez Janša’s government. This exploratory study of Slovenia has revealed domestic and external factors, which together co-create the particular outcomes of a fluid democracy, including several not yet revealed in the literature as relevant. The findings encourage further comparative qualitative and quantitative research not only into factors of democratic decline, but also of democratic stability in the context of multiple external shocks.