Page 125 - Šolsko polje, XXIX, 2018, no. 5-6: Radicalization, Violent Extremism and Conflicting Diversity, eds. Mitja Sardoč and Tomaž Deželan
P. 125
s. dragoš ■ factors of radicalization
Table 3: The leftist orientation of Slovenian public opinion (between
2002 and 2014, based on self-evaluation in the question): “Politics
sometimes speaks about the left and the right. Where would you classify yourself
on the scale from 0 to 10, where 0 means left and 10 means right?” (Toš, 2017: pp.
352-353)
STATE YEAR AVERAGE VALUE DIFFER ENCE
2002 – 2014
Slovenia 2002 4.70
Spain 2014 4.41 % Direction of shift
Israel 2002 4.41 - 6.2 Very much to the left
Ex-socialist1 2014 4.42
Nordic 2002 5.68 + 0.2 Slightly to the right
states2 2014 5.82
EU (24)3 2002 5.17 + 2.5 To the right
2014 5.24
2002 5.34 + 1.4 To the right
2014 5.36
2002 5.11 + 0.4 Slightly to the right
2014 5.10
- 0.2 Slightly to the left
1 Ex-socialist states (without Slovenia): the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania,
Poland.
2 Nordic states: Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden.
3 The stated average of the EU countries (including Israel and Switzerland).
that stand out with regard to this factor, i.e. Spain and the “European”
complement, Israel; the first is at the extreme, because it has the same val-
ue as Slovenia, while the second is the most right wing. As is evident from
the last two columns of the table, in economically the most critical years
– that is, between 2002 and 201425 – public opinion in Slovenia moved
more to the left than anywhere else in Europe. Moreover, Slovenia is also
the country in Europe with the highest percentage of respondents who
(according to various criteria) are very critical of capitalism and consider
socialism to be better (Toš & Vovk, 2014). In short, a basic characteristic
of Slovenia is that, right from the very foundation of this young country,
in 1991, the general public has been moving notably to the left, while the
25 Economically the mentioned period is the most critical for three reasons: because it indicates
the peak of the most recent recession, which marked the triumph of neoliberalism and the
collapse of various stock market bubbles that had inflated due to a belief in infinite economic
growth; because this collapse was followed by a very severe economic crisis, comparable with
that in the 1930s; because even after leaving this crisis nothing indicates that we have had
learned anything from it.
123
Table 3: The leftist orientation of Slovenian public opinion (between
2002 and 2014, based on self-evaluation in the question): “Politics
sometimes speaks about the left and the right. Where would you classify yourself
on the scale from 0 to 10, where 0 means left and 10 means right?” (Toš, 2017: pp.
352-353)
STATE YEAR AVERAGE VALUE DIFFER ENCE
2002 – 2014
Slovenia 2002 4.70
Spain 2014 4.41 % Direction of shift
Israel 2002 4.41 - 6.2 Very much to the left
Ex-socialist1 2014 4.42
Nordic 2002 5.68 + 0.2 Slightly to the right
states2 2014 5.82
EU (24)3 2002 5.17 + 2.5 To the right
2014 5.24
2002 5.34 + 1.4 To the right
2014 5.36
2002 5.11 + 0.4 Slightly to the right
2014 5.10
- 0.2 Slightly to the left
1 Ex-socialist states (without Slovenia): the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania,
Poland.
2 Nordic states: Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden.
3 The stated average of the EU countries (including Israel and Switzerland).
that stand out with regard to this factor, i.e. Spain and the “European”
complement, Israel; the first is at the extreme, because it has the same val-
ue as Slovenia, while the second is the most right wing. As is evident from
the last two columns of the table, in economically the most critical years
– that is, between 2002 and 201425 – public opinion in Slovenia moved
more to the left than anywhere else in Europe. Moreover, Slovenia is also
the country in Europe with the highest percentage of respondents who
(according to various criteria) are very critical of capitalism and consider
socialism to be better (Toš & Vovk, 2014). In short, a basic characteristic
of Slovenia is that, right from the very foundation of this young country,
in 1991, the general public has been moving notably to the left, while the
25 Economically the mentioned period is the most critical for three reasons: because it indicates
the peak of the most recent recession, which marked the triumph of neoliberalism and the
collapse of various stock market bubbles that had inflated due to a belief in infinite economic
growth; because this collapse was followed by a very severe economic crisis, comparable with
that in the 1930s; because even after leaving this crisis nothing indicates that we have had
learned anything from it.
123
