On the road to democracy - from the creation of independent political union independent political connections to the formation of DEMOS

Andreja Valič Zver

Abstract

In the second half of the 1980s a plural political environment was gradually forming in Slovenia. The political opposition to the ruling communist regime started to take shape. In 1988 the Slovenian Farmer’s Association was established, then in 1989 the Slovenian Democratic Union, the Social Democratic Alliance of Slovenia, the Slovenian Christian Social Movement, the Greens of Slovenia, the Slovenian Craft Party, the Slovenian Craft Corporate Party, the Gray Panthers and others. The author deals with the relations between the old and new political elites. With rare exceptions, there was no distinctive pact between the two elites that would indicate the type of transition in Slovenia as there were no basic conditions for equal cooperation. The round table between the communist authorities and the opposition failed because the authorities mainly wanted to control and direct the opposition. The opposition became more and more independent and at the end of 1989 had joined in the coalition named Demos. The main goals of the Demos programme were democracy and national sovereignty.

Key words

Demos (the Democratic Opposition of Slovenia), Slovenian Farmer’s Association, Slovenian Democratic Union, Social Democratic Alliance of Slovenia, Slovenian Christian Social Movement, Greens of Slovenia, Slovenian Craft Party, Slovenian Craft Corporate Party, Gray Panthers, agreement on the establishment of Demos, opposition, the Demos programme