Page 127 - Šolsko polje, XXIX, 2018, no. 5-6: Radicalization, Violent Extremism and Conflicting Diversity, eds. Mitja Sardoč and Tomaž Deželan
P. 127
s. dragoš ■ factors of radicalization
THREE TYPICAL VIEWS OF THE SOCIETY IN WHICH WE LIVE ARE GIVEN
Which of them you consider to be the closest to your own opinion?
Our society, as it is now,
should be defended against
any change*
Our society should be
gradually changed with
reforms
Our society’s entire func-
tioning should be radically
changed with a determined
action**
* Until 2003: Our society as it is now, should be defended against any upturn
** Until 2003: Our society’s entire functioning should be radically changed with a revolutionary action
FDV - CJMMK, Slovenian public opinion 1992-2013
Table 5: Attitude to social change in Slovenian public opinion (Toš,
2014: p. 106)
Slovenian elites have been moving to the right. The results of these trends
are shown in Tables 4 and 5.
Slovenian dissatisfaction with democracy is at a critically high lev-
el. Table 4 shows that in 2014 the share of people who declared them-
selves unsatisfied with democracy in Slovenia amounted to over 64 %, well
above the European average of 25.3 %. For reasons of comparison this ta-
ble also includes the Czech Republic as the country that is most similar to
Slovenia due to its experience of socialism, although the percentage of its
citizens who are unsatisfied with democracy is substantially lower (24.2
%), and Norway, where the dissatisfaction is the lowest seen in Europe.
The same trends can be seen in the right column of the same table: in 12
years the average self-assessed level of satisfaction, as measured on a scale
from 0 to 10, fell 33.9 % in Slovenia, while during the same time the aver-
age fall for the whole EU was only 4.4 %. One consequence of these trends
is an extraordinary radicalisation of public opinion in Slovenia over the
past decade. As seen from Table 5, the percentage of self-defined conserv-
atives who reject any changes to the current system has been approaching
zero; the percentage of reformists that wish for gradual changes, which in
the previous quarter century represented the majority of the public, has
fallen dramatically; while those who think that “the entire way of func-
tioning of our society needs to be radically changed with a determined ac-
tion” have become the majority.
125
THREE TYPICAL VIEWS OF THE SOCIETY IN WHICH WE LIVE ARE GIVEN
Which of them you consider to be the closest to your own opinion?
Our society, as it is now,
should be defended against
any change*
Our society should be
gradually changed with
reforms
Our society’s entire func-
tioning should be radically
changed with a determined
action**
* Until 2003: Our society as it is now, should be defended against any upturn
** Until 2003: Our society’s entire functioning should be radically changed with a revolutionary action
FDV - CJMMK, Slovenian public opinion 1992-2013
Table 5: Attitude to social change in Slovenian public opinion (Toš,
2014: p. 106)
Slovenian elites have been moving to the right. The results of these trends
are shown in Tables 4 and 5.
Slovenian dissatisfaction with democracy is at a critically high lev-
el. Table 4 shows that in 2014 the share of people who declared them-
selves unsatisfied with democracy in Slovenia amounted to over 64 %, well
above the European average of 25.3 %. For reasons of comparison this ta-
ble also includes the Czech Republic as the country that is most similar to
Slovenia due to its experience of socialism, although the percentage of its
citizens who are unsatisfied with democracy is substantially lower (24.2
%), and Norway, where the dissatisfaction is the lowest seen in Europe.
The same trends can be seen in the right column of the same table: in 12
years the average self-assessed level of satisfaction, as measured on a scale
from 0 to 10, fell 33.9 % in Slovenia, while during the same time the aver-
age fall for the whole EU was only 4.4 %. One consequence of these trends
is an extraordinary radicalisation of public opinion in Slovenia over the
past decade. As seen from Table 5, the percentage of self-defined conserv-
atives who reject any changes to the current system has been approaching
zero; the percentage of reformists that wish for gradual changes, which in
the previous quarter century represented the majority of the public, has
fallen dramatically; while those who think that “the entire way of func-
tioning of our society needs to be radically changed with a determined ac-
tion” have become the majority.
125
