The Cultural Gap Between the Military and the Parent Society in Slovenia

Abstract

Slovenian society was historically very ambivalent towards the military. In former Yugoslavia many people understood the military as the socialising agent, the organisation that would help their sons to grow up, and as provider of help in cases of natural catastrophes. The role of defence of the homeland was perceived as a legitimate task of the military, but the expectation of a foreign military threat was gradually decreasing. The Yugoslav policy of active participation in the non-alignment movement helped people to believe that they lived in a neutral country, in a country without foreign enemies. The perception of a low military threat in the public clashed with the very tough enemy-searching of the former Yugoslav military. This caused tensions between Slovenian civil society and Yugoslav military elites. The associations of civil society asked for recognition of conscientious objection, which was not permitted in former Yugoslavia until the mid-1980s. Even then, the status of conscientious objectors was given to religious believers only, and they had to serve within the military without arms. In 1991, the Slovenian public verified its decades-old hypothesis that there is no enemy outside the country, but the biggest enemy is its own military. The war in Slovenia, although the decision to form an independent state was encouraged by Serb nationalism and the totalitarian perception of the Yugoslav Federation, was clearly a war between the Slovenian people, military, and police against the Yugoslav Peoples’ Army and not against other nations or republics of former Yugoslavia.

Citation

Garb, M. and Jelušič, L. (2005), "The Cultural Gap Between the Military and the Parent Society in Slovenia", Caforio, G. and Kümmel, G. (Ed.) Military Missions and their Implications Reconsidered: The Aftermath of September 11th (Contributions to Conflict Management, Peace Economics and Development, Vol. 2), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 171-192. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1572-8323(05)02011-4