From Protesting to Supporting a Minority Government: Mapping the Trajectory of the Slovenian Left

In October 2011, Slovenian activists joined the global Occupy movement and occupied a square in front of the Ljubljana Stock Exchange. The occupation ended six months afterwards, leaving many on the radical left wondering what the achievements of the direct action were and what steps to take next. The period of disillusionment soon ended when a wave of protests in the second biggest city Maribor spread to Ljubljana and the rest of the country, producing the biggest protest movement since independence. The protests grew into a nation-wide movement and at the height of its activity, managed to topple Janez Janša’s government. Out of this protest movement, a new radical left party emerged in Slovenia and entered parliament after the June 2014 elections. This talk will offer an in-depth study of the structural and agential factors behind the emergence and electoral breakthrough of the Slovenian Left party. It will define the party’s ideological-programmatic profile and analyse its tactics of party competition through a selection of concrete examples. It will conclude by assessing the party’s electoral performance in this year’s parliamentary elections and the challenges the party faces in giving support to the new centre-left minority government.

This is event is free and open to all, no need to register.