Academic literature on the topic 'Slovenia, social conditions'

As a nation-state, Slovenia represents an increasingly rare case wherein 80 percent of the country identifies as ethnically homogeneous. Even in the face of this fact, Slovenia's ethno-national identity has been called into question since its independence. The European refugee crisis has brought this questioning into sharp focus as the admittance, care and transfer of refugees has caused burdens not only economically and logistically, but also in terms of what it means to be Slovenian and European at the same time. In a place with little history of provision of care for large-scale refugee populations, the cultural and political frameworks of Slovene society do not possess the crisis response capacity that its Northern European neighbors might. In fact, Slovenia's record on human rights is not as stellar as is often presented to the world at large. This paper argues that Slovenia's place in Mitteleuropa serves as a hindrance to it as a place of social care and reaffirms certain historical conditions that render it a transitory space between The Other and the ‘real’ Europe. It relies upon field observations of how Slovenia organized its response to the crisis in the autumn of 2015 and criticizes those responses as reaffirming both the post-socialist transition and the neoliberal intent of its national infrastructure and political economy.

Abstract Background: This article researches gender inequality in health based on subjective assessments of health, the accessibility of health care services and trust in the health care system between different social categories of women in Slovenia. Methods: The study is based on the Slovenian Public Opinion survey (ISSP Health Module) carried out in 2011 on representative samples of the adult Slovenian population. In the data, we investigated the gender differences and difference between different socio-economic categories within the female sub-sample in self-assessed health, and some other related topics such as: trust in doctors, trust in health care system, access to health care services and attitude to the health care policy in Slovenia. Results: The data shows significant inequalities in self-assessed health between different social strata. Self-assessed health is significantly lower among women at the bottom of the educational and income scale. The data also reveals strong support for the preservation of the available public health. Conclusion: Neoliberal economic reforms (of health care) affect vulnerable social categories the most, and women are particularly exposed. The use of women’s unpaid work in the family belongs among the basic (neo)liberal saving strategies. These want to take more care and health work within families from the shoulders of the state and place it onto the shoulders of family members, which mainly means women. In these circumstances, it is understandable that women subjectively assess their health as being worse than men’s. Moreover, conditions are being established that de facto could lead to worse health in the female population in Slovenia.

. The problem of changing the role of literature in the modern world is especially acute in the former socialist European countries, survived at the end of the twentieth century fundamental social and political changes. Slovenia, which gained sovereignty during the disintegration of the SFRY, is one of the typical examples. In 1991, with the transition to parliamentary democracy, new socio-economic conditions arose that influenced the cultural sphere: literature faced the problem of «survival» in the market, high competition, and an avalanche of mass translated products. The state stopped seeing book publications as an instrument of national self-identification and redirected this duty to a private publisher with its commercial interest. As a result, the Slovenian socio-cultural space ceased to be literary-centric, literature lost its traditional national compensatory, emancipatory function and began to be gradually pushed to the periphery of public life. One of the emerging trajectories for the conservation of its ethical potential by Slovenian literature is associated with the renewal of social critical discourse.

In the eyes of the European public, Slovenia is still considered a Catholic country. Since before the last World War, this has had a double meaning. First of all, the Roman Catholic Church has been the leading ecclesiastical institution since the Christianization of the territory settled by Slovenes, decisively influencing the constitution of the cultural and political life of the Slovene nation, as well as its character. In spite of changed social conditions and its fate in the period of “real-socialist” rule from 1945 to 1990, the Church has preserved this role to the present time, although in different forms.

UDK: 630*92(4) Social, economical and political changes in South-east European countries have led to significant shift from traditional pattern of forest policy to new, more complex paradigm when it comes to forestry and forest resources management. Among other things, this implies increasing of private forest owners’ heterogeneity which is reflected in changes of their expectations, objectives, attitudes and management practices. In this context, it is important to explore how private forest owners obtain information useful for forest management but also to analyze in which way their characteristics influence fulfilling of informational needs. The objective of this paper was to analyse sources of information that private forest owners are most likely to use, and to assess how owners’ characteristics, property conditions as well as management behaviour, affect it. Surveys were conducted in Bosnia-Herzegovina (n=350), Serbia (n=350), Croatia (n=350) and Slovenia (n=322) on random samples of private forest owners while the data were analysed by using logistic regression model. The paper examined five models of information providers: private forest owners associations (1), relatives (2), public forest administration (3), other owners (4) and public forest companies (5). Comparison between countries indicates the differences regarding to informational providers, caused mainly due to importance of private forests to their owners and different organizational structure of national forest sectors. Comparing to other countries, it seems that Slovenian private forest owners are more active in searching for information. Public forest administration is the most preferable provider of information in Slovenia while in Bosnia-Herzegovina these are public forest companies and public forest administration. In Serbia and Croatia the most common providers of information are public forest companies. Only Slovenian private forest owners use interest associations as the source of information. The traditional providers of information (other owners) are still important for private forest owners in Slovenia and Bosnia-Herzegovina at least. The results of logistic regression models reveal that forest property size, fragmentation, harvesting activities as well as owners’ age influence the source of information that private forest owners are most likely to use. The model 3 (pubic forest administration) is statistically significant in Slovenia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, while in Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina the model 5 (public forest company) is significant. None of the models is statistically significant for Croatia. Besides, the model 4 (other owners) was statistically significant in Slovenia.

Abstract Complementary health insurance is divided between the internal market (market principles) and social dimension, wherein the state has an extremely difficult task, as it must create the conditions necessary for the fair and efficient functioning of the health care financing system. Slovenia has failed to successfully accomplish this task, which consists of both ensuring the social dimension and also facilitating the operation of market principles. The aim of this article is not on the functioning of market principles, which are covered by the field of economics, but is instead on analyzing the dichotomy between the internal market (the rules that govern the functioning of the internal market) and the social dimension (the rules that enable the exercise of the social function), and, in this light, analyzes the legal regulation of the Slovenian complementary health insurance. Analysis of the legal regulation highlights the shortcomings in ensuring the social dimension, shortcomings which are, with the help of the measures proposed in the concluding section of the article, remedied by the author.

Abstract The article researches the subjective perception of migration, the reasons for emigration and the conditions for return, and the perception of homeland by recent emigrants from Slovenia. Since the 2008–2015 economic crisis, there has been a strong stream of net emigration and brain drain from Slovenia. By means of semi-structured interviews with recent emigrants, we found out that their prevailing reasons for migration were economic, their view of the selected location pragmatic, and their subjective perception of homeland mostly reduced to the narrow social network and world of everyday life. Only a smaller part of the interviewees identifies itself with Slovenia as an organised cultural and political space. Therefore, under the condition of the free movement of labour within the EU and a semi-peripheral position of the Slovene economy, new waves of net emigration from Slovenia can be expected in the future, especially in periods of economic crises.

Assessing the sustainability of agri-food chains is challenging for several reasons. It should account for the impacts on environmental, social, and economic wellbeing simultaneously, considering both the individual links in the chain and the chain as a whole. The primary aim of this study is to assess the conditions for meeting the sustainability criteria of a legume-based agri-food chain in Slovenia. Therefore, a quantitative sustainability assessment methodology was developed, using a multi-stakeholder approach, which upgraded the traditional SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis. Our approach, called ‘Multi-SWOT’, aggregates the SWOT table inputs identified by stakeholders into factors, themes and focus areas, according to their importance for the agri-food chain, for each sustainability pillar, and links in the chain. By accounting for the relative number of incentives (beneficial factors) and barriers (constraint factors) we identified those factors that enhance the sustainability of the Slovenian legume-based agri-food chain and the factors jeopardising it. The incorporation of multi-stakeholder perspectives presents an innovative approach that adds value to a standard SWOT analysis. The study serves as a guide to help decision-makers better understand the multidimensionality of sustainability and identify effective activities to support and strengthen the current legume agri-food chain in Slovenia.

In the article, we are presenting the research results about social position of the student youth, which were obtained in 2008 on the sample of 3008 students, and we are comparing them with selected data from a similar research, carried out in 1995 on a sample of 1829 students in Slovenia. We are analyzing results in light of contemporary conditions of uncertainty and risks, which are being significantly deepened and intensified by the current economic recession. We are reflecting on the increasing competitiveness and marketization of tertiary education, which is in contradiction not only with the enlightenment concept of knowledge production and dissemination, but also with the demands and absorptive capacity of the labour market. Therefore, we are asking ourselves whether students today are still an avant-garde of social progress and if so, whether new students? movements, similarly to those from 60s and 70s of the preceding century, are announcing a social change based on a new emerging ethics of duties towards oneself.

Marginalised groups of workers in Slovenia are traditionally most affected by labour market uncertainty, but increasingly middle-class and upper-class workers are experiencing the same. Furthermore, new work forms have given rise to ethical, psychological and legal dilemmas. In this paper, we examine the concept of decent work and focus on job-related and organisational aspects of work in Slovenia. In the empirical part of the paper we therefore focus on working time, work organisation and co-operation within teams, work-life balance, health and stress, and overall satisfaction with working conditions. Our results evidence that new work forms increase insecurity and consequently diminish worker well-being; and this is most experienced by younger, agency and self-employed workers in Slovenia. This suggests that the development of multilevel and multifaceted measures which take into account socio-psychological and legislative factors to address labour market segmentation is necessary, especially when addressing the needs of those forced to work atypically.

2005/2006
Serena Fedel's dissertation is focused on gender issues, more precisely she has chosen to analyse the social conditions of employed women and the way they manage to reconcile the duties arising from their job with the ones connected with their role within the family. Geographically speaking she has decided to examine the above mentioned issues in the core of the so called Alps-Adriatic region, i.e. in the three bordering areas of Carinthia, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Slovenia. The aim of the dissertation consisted in analysing gender disparities and the social conditions of working women first in Austria, Italy and Slovenia and then also in of Carinthia and Friuli Venezia Giulia in order to find out which government has proved to be more sensitive to gender issues and has been more committed and successful in promoting a more equal society. Moreover tthe PhD candidate wanted to discover and point out which measures and initiatives have been more useful in order to develop gender equality and equal opportunities for all, so that such best practices could be introduced also in other areas in order to achieve the same goals. Carinthia, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Slovenia are neighbouring regions and to a foreign eye their landscapes must look similar, mainly because of the architectural legacy of a past when the three of them were all part of the Habsburg Empire. Indeed until the end of the First World War [although only until 1866 for the area of Friuli, when it was annexed to the Reign of Italy] these regions there ruled by the same laws and were inhabited by a very Catholic population. Notwithstanding the fact that in general women had to work hard at home as well as outside it in order to help their family make ends meet, the Catholic Church had been very successful in promoting the traditional patriarchal family model of the male breadwinner-housewife, according to which woman’s role was defined by the three “K’s” [Küche, Kindern, Kirche] kitchen, children and church. Originally such a model was meant for the bourgeois family of the 19th century, but soon it became valid for all the social strata. It prescribed that the husband’s role was to work for wage while the woman had to be the care-taker at home; if an employment was compatible with these tasks and/ or if the financial situation of the family required it, only then could she work outside home. The year 1918 marked the beginning of a dissimilar historical, social and economic development for the bordering regions of Carinthia, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Slovenia, even though some features – like the strong feeling of devotion to the Catholic religion by the majority of the people, a peripheral position within their states and in respect to the decisional centres, as well as some internalized attitudes, customs and traditions - represented some common resistant-to-change characteristics. Now less than one century afterwards, the three areas are again under the umbrella of a common institution, the European Union, which counts gender equality among its founding principles, it has introduced the approach of gender mainstreaming in all its policies and programmes, and it requires all the member states to do the same. Moreover the three bordering areas are more or less affected in the same way also by world-wide phenomena such as the globalisation process (of capitals, work, models of reference, cultural trends, etc.) and the process of individualization of society. Given the above mentioned common features as well as the dissimilar historical experiences and social developmental paths which have characterized Carinthia, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Slovenia in the 20th century, the objective of Serena Fedel’s dissertation was to investigate whether nowadays women’s social condition and their models of behaviour in these areas are still similar, or if they differ and how, and which strategies have been elaborated in order to tackle the problem of gender disparities and discriminations. Through such a comparison it was expected to devise and point out some “best practices” which might be applied in the future in other regions in order to promote equal opportunities and the development of a more equal society. The main hypothesis was that the traditional male-breadwinner-housewife family model had left a legacy in the way household duties are divided between men and women, as well as in the different way men and women are present in the labour force (sectors of employment, hierarchichal position and status and power connected with it, career chances reserved to them, etc.). As a consequence it was expected that the various aspects of gender inequality to be addressed would have been similar, and also that the policies and initiatives devised in order to tackle them would have presented common features. On the other hand it was also expected that Carinthia, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Slovenia would have presented partially different workforce situations and levels of development of care services, to be accounted for mainly by the dissimilar historical experiences through which they went. Given the stress laid by the socialist system (when Slovenia was part of the Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia) on the principle of equality between the different republics (ethnicities) as well as between sexes, and considering that it demanded all of its citizens to work, Serena Fedel assumed that Sloven women should have fared better then their colleagues of Carinthia and Friuli Venezia Giulia. More precisely it was expected that in Slovenia women would have enjoyed more equality with men in the private and in the public sphere, and that the network of care services in support of working parents would have been better developed here than in the other two areas. It must be mentioned that another hypothesis was also taken into consideration, namely that the weight of the socialist legacy could have been partially blunted by the dynamics set off by the process of transition to the market economy - i.e. the distance taken from everything that belonged to the old system, and the process of re-catholization of the population. While the second hypothesis was not confirmed, the first was supported by the results of the analysis carried out on the basis of statistical data concerning the labour force and the network of public care services in Austria, Italy and Slovenia, as well as in Carinthia and Friuli Venezia Giulia. These data matched also with the results of opinion polls carried out in the areas of interest on the topics of gender equalities and inequalities, and about men’s and women’s roles within family and society, as well as with the results of a survey carried out by the very PhD candidate on 30 women of the Alps-Adriatic area. Coming now to present the structure of the dissertation in details, the first chapter deals with the main sociological theories about social inequalities, starting with the classical ones which adopted a hierarchical approach and focused mainly on people’s position within the economic field, and then moving to more recent standpoints, which adopted a horizontal approach in order to give account of the so called new inequalities. These are connected with characteristics such as one’s gender, age, race, ethnicity, kind of dwelling, etc, so they cannot be directly connected to or explained by only taking into consideration one’s profession, but nonetheless they affect people’s life chances and achievements substantially. In the second chapter the focus shifts to the topic of whether and how the main sociologists took into consideration the issue of gender inequalities, and what they wrote about woman’s nature and her role compared to man’s. Afterwards the principal feminist approaches to the study of gender issues and their main points are discussed, together with the theories that were developed in order to explain the phenomena of the gendered division of work and the existence of patriarchal relations in social structures, focusing most of all on the reasons why women are in a disadvantaged position in the labour market, and on the relationship between welfare policies and women’s situation. The third chapter is devoted to women’ social condition under the Habsburg monarchy and it is explained how the traditional male breadwinner-housewife model could assert itself and become the leading paradigm for the gendered division of work, notwithstanding the fact that women had always been working, at home as well as outside it. The key role played by the Catholic Church in the affirmation of the traditional patriarchal family model will be highlighted. The fourth chapter deals with the way woman’s condition has evolved over time in Europe and more precisely in Austria, Italy, Slovenia and the former Yugoslavia until our days. The diacronical development of the female employment rates together with the different kinds of welfare states that have characterized these nations constitute the main topic of the chapter; their analysis allows to come to outline which kind of gender relations have been fostered in the three states. Moreover it will be given account of the impact that the two phenomena of the process of globalization and of individualization of society have had on women’s situation, focussing specially on Western countries. In the fifth chapter the attention will focus on the regional situation: firstly it will be given account of the way the European Union has been dealing with the issue of gender equality, and the principles and policies developed to tackle gender inequalities; on a second step the analysis will concentrate on the regional level and more precisely on the three areas which may represent the heart of the forthcoming Alps-Adriatic region: Carinthia, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Slovenia. After having investigated the way women are present in the labour force there and the care services on which they can count - also contextualizing such data within their national frame, i.e. of Austria and Italy – the focus will move to the policies that have been developed by the regional governments in order to support families, to promote gender equalities and to counter gender discrimination, also describing the national and regional institutional bodies that deal with the issue and their involvement in initiatives co-financed by the European Union such as the program EQUAL. The goal of this part of the work is to detect some best practices which have been elaborated in a specific region and have proved to be effective in helping parents to carry out all their duties, and which may also be successfully adopted by other administrations. The hypothesis is that in the end such policies won’t be much dissimilar because of the common membership to the European Union, even if there will be also “national/ regional ways” to cope with the problems, given the fact that the three regions present partially different workforce structure. The sixth chapter is devoted to the presentation of the results of the survey carried out by Serena Fedel in the three bordering regions, thus providing first hand data. In order to compare the social conditions of employed women of Carinthia, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Slovenia the PhD candidate developed a questionnaire, translated it into German, Italian and Slovene, and used it to interview 30 women who have family (children) and are employed at a bank, and working in Klagenfurt, Ljubljana or Udine. All the interviews took place during the months of June and July 2006, thanks to the availability of the 30 women involved in the project and with the precious organizational help of the Human Resources Departments of the Austrian, Italian and Slovene sister-companies of the group. The questionnaire consisted of 32 questions, mostly open ones, through which Serena Fedel wanted to investigate women’s actual situation between family and work, their ideas about woman’s role in family and society (influenced more or less by their parents’ ideas on the same issue), their personal experience as far as unfair treatments suffered because of their sex, and their opinion about gender inequalities. Moreover, she wanted to get to know their assessment about the commitment of their regional and/or national government as far as fostering equal opportunities and helping parents to reconcile professional and family life and about the results that have actually been achieved in the field. One last point concerned their evaluation of the family- and/ or women-friendly attitudes of the bank in each region/nation. As for the hypothesis, again it was expected Slovene women to be the most emancipated, and the ones who enjoy more equal partnerships, where the division of work is not so engendered any more. Indeed it is so, and for a great deal the cultural legacy of socialism and its care institutions are to be held responsible for such a result, since they have gotten people used to taking for granted the fact that women work as men do, which may bring about a higher involvement of men into family life and household duties. It has to be said that also in Slovenia the labour force is still segregated by gender and young women seem to be discriminated against by employers upon hiring, owing to the fact that they may get pregnant and go on leave. Such a phenomenon, together with a still limited number of fathers who make use of the parental leave represent common features of the three analyzed areas and matters of concern of the institutions who deal with gender inequalities. In the conclusion of the dissertation, projects and initiative are pointed out, which have been developed in the analyzed areas and have been effective in promoting a more gender equal society, and in working towards the elimination or at least the reduction of gender discrimination and inequalities. They may represent the starting point of a debate about gender issues to take place within Carinthia, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Slovenia, and therefore in the forthcoming Alps-Adriatic region, which may aid in the development of new answers and solutions.

In the article entitled: ‘Nataša Pirc Musar, the First Female President of the Republic of Slovenia in the Political and Systemic Circumstances’, attention was drawn to the fact that for the first time in the history of the Republic of Slovenia, a woman – Nataša Pirc Musar – has been the president of the state since December 22, 2022. The main research objective is to try to answer the question of what contributed to her success. Attention was paid to, firstly; the systemic and constitutional conditions of the Republic of Slovenia, secondly; the political contexts, third; her biography and political credo. The conducted analysis led to the conclusion that indeed in Slovenia ‘the time has come for women in politics’. Nataša Pirc Musar is a woman with legal education, giving her extensive experience both professionally and in organisational and social activities. She is an advocate for human rights, individual dignity, freedom, equality, justice and tolerance. This may be a president whom history will remember as politically wise, diplomatically prudent, a woman who soothes all political disputes – a politician representing the Republic of Slovenia well.

The responsibility of the Medical Chamber of Slovenia (Chamber) is reflected in the attitude towards the membership that goes through the mission, which is to represent and promote the professional, economic and social interests of doctors, care for the high professional competence and ethics of the conduct of doctors, the reputation and honor of the medical profession, ensuring the fulfillment of medical duties, promoting the rights of doctors, and the professional and safe treatment of patients. The Chamber's responsibility to the health care system lies primarily in proposals for its improvement and elimination of errors, which are recognized by the Chamber in monitoring its operations as well as through controls within the public authority. Responsibility to the company is manifested by the fact that the general public also informs and directs them to find better conditions for the functioning of the system and to help in crisis management. An example of the Chamber's work in the face of the SARS-CoV 2 pandemic causing COVID-19 is given.

The Slovenian Constitution guarantees the right to private property and inheritance; emphasizes the economic, social, and environmental functions of property and grants special protection to agricul- tural land. According to these provisions, middle-sized family farms are protected against division so that they are, in principle, inherited by a single testamentary or intestate heir, while the number of other heirs and their inheritance shares are reduced. The legal transfer of agricultural land, forests, and farms is subject to several substantial restrictions and prior administrative control. After a general prohibition to divide the protected farms inter vivos was lifted in spring 2022, the disposal of protected farms has been less restricted, but the number of protected farms is expected to decrease. The legislation on agricultural land, protected farms, forests, and agricultural communities, as well as on nature conservation, water, cultural heritage protection, and spatial planning, regulate several preemption rights, of which two or more concur in many a case. To prevent the circumvention of statutory preemption rights, conclusion donation contracts are also restricted. In certain cases, the physical division of agricultural and forest plots is prohibited by the law. Lease contracts of agricul- tural land are also regulated by some special provisions (relating to prelease rights, minimum lease period, and so on) and subject to prior administrative control. The current legislation and interna- tional treaties allow citizens and legal persons of certain states (e.g., the EU member states) as well as persons with the status of a Slovene without Slovene citizenship to acquire agricultural land, so that reciprocity is not required. Citizens and legal persons of certain other states may acquire agricultural land based on a legal transaction, inheritance, or a state body’s decision under condition of reciproc- ity, while citizens and legal persons of all other states may acquire agricultural land only on the basis of inheritance and under a condition of reciprocity. The statutory provisions on the legal transfer of agricultural land and holdings have been assessed several times by the Constitutional Court from the standpoint of constitutional right to private property and inheritance; economic, social, and environmental function of property; free economic initiative; rule of law; and the principles of legal certainty and proportionality.

Traditional sports and games represent the folk tradition and culture of certain regions, part of the people’s intangible cultural heritage. Numerous traditional sports and games have been preserved in ex-Yugoslav republics, which are most often affirmed through village Olympiads and competitions in order to keep them from being forgotten. The aim of the study is to determine the content and program of rural Olympiads in ex-Yugoslav republics, the extent to which traditional sports and games are present, and the extent to which some modern sports are included. Also, the study focused on the impact of rural Olympiads on local communities and on the interaction between hosts and guests. The methodology used in the paper refers to field research (interview, observation), and document analysis, as well as the use of different data sources to validate and crosscheck findings. The results of the research indicate the presence of a large number of games of different character in the countries formed in Yugoslavia, as well as a large number of the same or similar games that arose more as a result of certain geographical and social conditions, and less as a feature of individual peoples.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR), or responsible business conduct as a tool of sustainable development (green transition) and respect for human rights in the economy is getting more and more legally based. In different countries, the legal levers of CSR are very diverse; since this creates unequal conditions in the global market, the harmonization of the CSR related rules is essential. Important for the legal regulation of CSR is the proposal for the EU Corporate sustainability due diligence directive, CSDDD); among other things, the proposal expands the due diligence of directors from acting in the best interest of the company, also to consider the risks that threaten sustainable development and human rights, and in this regard sharpens corporate liability for damages. Key shifts in CSR can only be ensured by binding corporate law rules on directors’ due diligence and corporate damage liability for sustainability and human rights violations. The integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into investments is an increasingly common feature of modern CSR concept. Only environmental and labor legislation alone are not sufficient for the implementation of sustainable development and CSR. Interventions in corporate legislation are needed. In the EU, the implementation of CSR has so far been voluntary; only sustainability (non-financial) reporting is mandatory. The proposal of the CSDDD is therefore ground-breaking, as it intervenes for the first time in corporate legislation in favor of sustainable development, namely in regulating the sustainability civil liability of companies and the due diligence of directors. However, political debates between the EC, the Council and the EP due to differences in views about the latter are still ongoing. Slovenia (the government or Parliament) must finally adopt the National Plan for the enforcement of corporate social responsibility, as stipulated by the EU Commission already in the Revised Strategy 2011. In the legislation governing the operation of corporations (ZGD-1), Slovenia must establish the obligation of sustainable due diligence, to determine the duty of adopting a social responsibility strategy in every company and to determine, as a duty of care of directors, also the consideration of sustainability goals and CSR.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR), or responsible business conduct as a tool of sustainable development (green transition) and respect for human rights in the economy is getting more and more legally based. In different countries, the legal levers of CSR are very diverse; since this creates unequal conditions in the global market, the harmonization of the CSR related rules is essential. Important for the legal regulation of CSR is the proposal for the EU Corporate sustainability due diligence directive, CSDDD); among other things, the proposal expands the due diligence of directors from acting in the best interest of the company, also to consider the risks that threaten sustainable development and human rights, and in this regard sharpens corporate liability for damages. Key shifts in CSR can only be ensured by binding corporate law rules on directors’ due diligence and corporate damage liability for sustainability and human rights violations. The integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into investments is an increasingly common feature of modern CSR concept. Only environmental and labor legislation alone are not sufficient for the implementation of sustainable development and CSR. Interventions in corporate legislation are needed. In the EU, the implementation of CSR has so far been voluntary; only sustainability (non-financial) reporting is mandatory. The proposal of the CSDDD is therefore ground-breaking, as it intervenes for the first time in corporate legislation in favor of sustainable development, namely in regulating the sustainability civil liability of companies and the due diligence of directors. However, political debates between the EC, the Council and the EP due to differences in views about the latter are still ongoing. Slovenia (the government or Parliament) must finally adopt the National Plan for the enforcement of corporate social responsibility, as stipulated by the EU Commission already in the Revised Strategy 2011. In the legislation governing the operation of corporations (ZGD-1), Slovenia must establish the obligation of sustainable due diligence, to determine the duty of adopting a social responsibility strategy in every company and to determine, as a duty of care of directors, also the consideration of sustainability goals and CSR.

Education and Training represent the principal means through which individuals acquire skills and competences. And it is through participation in continuous professional development and learning that adults will access, on an ongoing basis, the upskilling and reskilling necessary to adapt to the continuous changes. The paper analyses the gathered information (Delphi analysis using specific surveys) that is necessary for the harmonization of the knowledge involved in the transition to the digital and green manufacturing. The analysis was applied to information received from specialists in fabrication from 5 EU countries, with different levels of industrial development: Belgium, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and Slovenia. According to the analysis, the majority of the responders (75%) did not receive training in digital and green activities in the past 6 months, 69% have participated in digital training. The companies which started the transformation to digital fabrication, use CAD-CAM followed by Enterprise resource planning (ERP), Production and Quality Management systems, communications tools and in a minor scale Robotic production technology, simulation tools and virtual programming digital monitoring. One of the problems identified with this survey was related to lack of digital skills experienced by the surveyed participant (44%) and lack of knowledge in digital training on the part of withe and blue co-workers (almost 80% in total). In terms of the use different digital technologies for the part of the companies it is equilibrated in terms of social media and Collaborative Technologies (30%); Data and Analytics (26%); Mobile Technologies (27%) and Cloud Computing Services (17%). The second part of the Delphi analysis was related on how to engage learners and help them to meet course and programme learning outcomes. Engagement entails includes mindfulness, intrinsic motivation, cognitive effort, and attention. To start with it was important to understand the way teaching/learning should be carried out, and the majority of the participants believed that Hybrid, online and face to face combined lectures are the best learning method, in terms of type of lesson, the short courses between 30-45 min were the most voted option (55%), followed by traditional 45 min lessons (30%).

Slovenia has only achieved its commitment of 25% share of renewables in final energy consumption by 2020, with a target of 27% by 2030 and 32% for the EU-27, by purchasing additional emission allowances. During the 20-year period of solar power plant construction in Slovenia, feed-in tariff subsidy models have been developed for the electricity generated from solar power plants, in the form of guaranteed feed-in or operating support, which have been very profitable in the past. The disbursement of subsidies for renewable electricity has exceeded the planned volumes. With the changed policy of subsidy reductions, investments started to decrease. After 2017, self-consumption and self-supply of electricity started to be promoted and had good promotional support. The main focus of this section is an economic analysis of the viability of investing in the construction of a solar power plant under normal and changed conditions, in terms of the potential risks and additional benefits of using electricity from a self-sustaining solar power plant. Economic indicators of investment performance from the investor's point of view, such as payback periods, net present value, internal rates of return under normal conditions and in the case of risks and uncertainties, and taking into account the additional social benefits of the average price of emission allowances were analysed for the Cost Benefit Analysis.

This paper examines the opportunities and challenges of the gig economy within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), focusing on some environmental, economic, and social dimensions. It emphasizes the need for fair working conditions, income stability, and ethical considerations to foster an inclusive and sustainable gig economy benefiting workers and society. The gig economy offers environmental benefits through optimized resource utilization, and economic sustainability by generating in­come opportunities and supporting work-life balance. However, challenges in labor rights, social protection, and income stability persist. The study uti­lizes both global secondary data and primary data from a survey of 200 gig workers (freelancers) in Slovenia. Through analyzing gig economy data with­in the context of sustainable development, this study contributes to the on­going discourse on sustainable practices and inclusivity in the gig economy, urging policymakers and stakeholders to implement measures that promote fairness and sustainability, benefiting both workers and society as a whole.

At a time when the world is faced with exceptional conditions and governments are taking various precautions to prevent the spread of the COVID-19, in addition to social life, trends in crime are also changing. According to world experts, reported crime fluctuates, but most forms of crime are in decline. After reviewing police statistics for the period from 1. January to 31. August 2020, in Ljubljana and comparing them with the same period in 2019, we found that reported crime had decreased. A total number of offences and misdemeanours have declined, as have robberies, thefts, burglaries, and domestic violence. The Institute of Criminology, online media, and newspapers in Slovenia have reported an increase in domestic violence, while some also reported a rise in thefts and burglaries in the country. Cybercrime is expected to increase in the future as more people and businesses move online due to the newly formed conditions, using online services, which poses new risks and opens up new opportunities for perpetrators.

Security self-organization is a natural right of an individual and a social group. Still, this right is, in conditions of a high degree of institutionalization of security systems, (partially) regulated by the states – both in declarative and legal manners. In Slovenia, this right has been explicitly provided in the resolutions of the national security strategy (1993, 2001, 2010, 2019), as well as in some key legislation from the field of the internal security system, the defence system, and the system of protection against natural and other disasters. Given that there has been no excessive interest in security self-organization in the last three decades in practice, it seems that also the state did not put many interests in the development of this area, neither in terms of support nor in terms of restrictions. However, the sudden appearance of the paramilitary guards (slov. varde) has initiated a vigorous debate in the professional and lay public, showing that a fair share of civil society and security professionals are unwilling to tolerate security self-organization that tries – self-proclaimed and self-assessed – to fill the security deficit of state organizations.

Fascism in the border region of Venezia Giulia/Julija krajina was confronted with the unfamiliar social and political conditions, ‘tradition’ and multiculturalism of the former territories of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In this territory, the beginnings of the heterogeneous resistance to the violence of the Italian authorities date back to the period between 1918 and 1920 and consisted mainly of the expression of ‘Slavic’ sentiments, various demonstrations, anti-Italian propaganda, and informing Yugoslavia about the situation in the area. In the pre-election period, the fascist squads attacked and destroyed everything that seemed hostile to them. On the day of the national elections on 15 May 1921 throughout the region incidents occurred, trying to turn the result in their favour by force. In particular, the Socialists and Communists were under attack in all of Italy. In Slovenian Istria, the best-known response to the violence is the local revolt in Marezige. A group of 11 fascists arrived in the village in the morning and immediately started provoking and forcing voters to vote for Blocco Nazionale. When the fascists started to shoot, the locals reacted spontaneously, attacking the fascists first with stones, and the fascists responded with shots. The outraged people killed three and seriously wounded one man. From Koper the available force of carabinieri and soldiers were sent, joined by fascists and three republicans. The latter immediately resorted to violence, but the soldiers and carabinieri soon restored order. However, in the marches that followed, the fascist squads took revenge on the nearby village of Čežarji. The Marezige uprising culminated in a highly publicised trial in Trieste. The fascists were acquitted based on the amnesty decree, which did not apply to the Slovenians. Those affected by the fascists’ rampage have never been compensated nor were they held responsible for their actions.

This research paper focuses on the temporal and spatial variations of birth rates in Serbia, Slovenia, and North Macedonia from 2000 to 2022. One of the main objectives is to identify the factors that have led to differences among these three former Yugoslav republics, taking into account their specific demographic characteristics, levels of economic development after the dissolution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and the influence of historical events on demographic processes. National-level data and data at the NUTS 3 statistical regional level were used to accurately capture regional disparities within each country. Data from population censuses conducted by national statistical institutes, as well as Eurostat data, serve as the basis for the analysis of these processes. To provide a comprehensive understanding of the demographic landscape in the region, a range of factors were considered. Factors such as inherited demographic conditions, migrations, economic influences, population policy measures, and the impacts of war events in the former Yugoslavia are of crucial importance for a deeper understanding of the complex dynamics of shaping long-term birth rate trends in the region. The research pays special attention to spatial differences in terms of heterogeneity in birth rates both between the countries and within each country at the regional level. Furthermore, the study examines the dynamics of the demographic transition process in the previously mentioned countries. The selection of Serbia, Slovenia, and North Macedonia for this research is motivated by their specific demographic characteristics and varying levels of economic development following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. By focusing on these three countries, the study tends to contribute to a deeper understanding of the interplay between demographic trends, economic factors, and socio-historical context in the region.

The aim of this study was to obtain data on the experience of the Covid-19 epidemic, related measures and changed living conditions of full time post-secondary Slovenian students. Data collection was conducted through a self-reported empirical web based survey as a part of a large cross-sectional study. Questionnaire was divided into 13 thematic sections. The survey took place between February 9 and March 8, 2021. A random sample consisted of 4,455 individuals. From the beginning of pandemic, the life has strongly changed 76% of survey participants, 56 % reported a change of daily rutine. In comparison to the time before the pandemic, they sleep more often, watch TV, use internet and social media, 17,6% reported decrease of financial safety. Only a quarter of survey participants reported that online study was successful. 23,3% reported fear of Covid-19, 4.7% acute clinical insomnia, severe depressive symptoms were present in 30,7 % of the respondents. severe anxiety symptoms in 16 % and 5% reported to have them almost every day suicidal thoughts The proportion of respondents who frequently sought psychological help increased during the epidemic.