Articles by Matevž Tomšič
The aim of this paper is to analyse key aspects of economic and political culture of the new EU m... more The aim of this paper is to analyse key aspects of economic and political culture of the new EU members from Central and Eastern Europe in comparison to old members (EU-15) of the European Union. Authors argue, that both, economical and political culture of most developed countries have a common core of underlying values, mainly being characterized by individualistic orientations and active, participatory attitudes.This argument is being empirically tested based on the data of several comparative research conducted in old and new members in recent years. Even though the data points to several distinctions among old and new members as regards the compatibility of their economic and political culture with the principles of market economy and parliamentary democracy, it is impossible to argues, that old and new countries are incompatible as regards the economic and political culture.
Papers by Matevž Tomšič
Research in social change, Nov 30, 2022
The article explores whether and how the performance of European countries in terms of digital so... more The article explores whether and how the performance of European countries in terms of digital social innovations is conditioned by inclusive and effective governance, prevailing cultural patterns and the existing level of socio-economic development. The analysis demonstrates that inclusive and effective governance is a necessary and sufficient condition for digital social innovations. This means that the existence of channels for widespread participation of the people as well as effective and transparent conduct of political institutions leads to a boom of creativity and utilisation of human capital in all key areas of society. We cannot confirm any significant conditioning of digital social innovations by culture or pre-existing socio-economic development. At least in the European Union (EU) context, our results provide some reasons for optimism, since the highest levels of socio-economic development are not necessary for impressive performance in terms of digital social innovation.
Springer eBooks, 2009
ABSTRACT I have decided to prepare the chapter together with my colleague Dr Matevz Tomšič. We bo... more ABSTRACT I have decided to prepare the chapter together with my colleague Dr Matevz Tomšič. We both deal with political sociology and work at the Faculty of Applied Social Studies in Slovenia. The working title of our chapter would be ‘The Concepts of Political Right and Left in Slovenian Public Discourse’. We intend to deal with the issue of conceptual definitions of (centre) right and (centre) right as they appear in politics, civil society and the media in Slovenia and how these definitions are related to the actual nature and actions of the political actors defined as either (centre) right or (centre) left.
Revija za socijalnu politiku, 2008
Research in Social Change, 2021
Russia and Slovenia are in many aspects very dissimilar countries. The process of systemic change... more Russia and Slovenia are in many aspects very dissimilar countries. The process of systemic change in the post-communist period was also usually assessed differently. Slovenia is an example of successful transformation that resulted in consolidated democracy and effective market economy, while Russia is an example of flawed democratisation, resulting in authoritarian reversal and an oligarchic economy with a combination of state interference and domination of ‘olygarchs’. However, the global crisis revealed some severe structural weaknesses of the Slovenian model of transition that led to the development of a rather dysfunctional democracy and ‘crony-capitalism’ characterised by entanglement of political and business elite that is—at least in some aspects—rather similar to the situation in Russia. We claim that these similarities between the two countries are predominantly determined by the type of elite formation and configuration, i.e. a high level of elite reproduction and ideolog...
Studia Historica Slovenica, 2021
The fundamental purpose of national reconciliation derives from recognition of the special nature... more The fundamental purpose of national reconciliation derives from recognition of the special nature of a human being, which makes them outstanding and excellent. Transitional justice processes have the main goal of achieving national reconciliation, which is connected with ensuring the highest possible realisation of human dignity. In this regard, Slovenia finds itself in a paradoxical position. Although usually perceived a successful former communist country, its process of introducing transitional justice was unsuccessful. This means the national reconstruction was not achieved in any meaningful way. The article deals with this paradox. The authors claim that the political elite plays a key role in the (non)implementation of transitional justice and hence has a decisive impact on national reconciliation. Accordingly, the primary reason for the lack of success of the national reconciliation is due to the reproduction of the elite and the ideological hegemony of the transitional left.
Quality of Governance in “Old” and “New” EU Member States in a Comparative Perspective. A questio... more Quality of Governance in “Old” and “New” EU Member States in a Comparative Perspective. A question arises whether the quality of governance of the “old” EU member states is greater than that of the “new” ones. Intuitively speaking, “old” member states should fare much better. In the article, a measure of the quality of governance is presented, based on the World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) for 1996, 2003 and 2010. According to the authors, the quality of governance consists of three components: system persistence, inclusiveness and effectiveness. Findings indicate that most of the “old” EU member states perform much better with respect to the quality of governance compared to their “new” counterparts. Further, the relationship between the quality of governance and some aspects of socio-economic development is examined. In this regard, a strong correlation between most of the elements under consideration is detected. In conclusion, the authors assume that if the EU c...
International Social Science Journal, 2013
His research covers governance, political actors, democratisation, and societal development. Rece... more His research covers governance, political actors, democratisation, and societal development. Recent book publication: Elites in Post-Communist Societies (London).
Proceeding from a synthetic overview of findings related to elite research in almost all the coun... more Proceeding from a synthetic overview of findings related to elite research in almost all the countries in Eastern and Central Europe, the authors try to discern the patterns of elite reproduction and /or circulation. They are especially interested in the impact of these patterns on the type and quality of democracy as well as on socio-economic modernisation. Taking Slovenia as a case study, they begin with an analysis of the multifaceted phenomenon of retention elite and draw attention to the importance of the differentiation of (political) elite and an emergent balance between dominant (retention) and new elite. As far as future process of elite formation is concerned, they argue also polemically with authors such as Higley that at least in the case of small social (national) systems, the model of cognitive oriented elite (or elite with high learning capacity) is more functional than the model of (pure) power and acquisitive elite.
Historical Social Research / Historische Sozialforschung
The configuration of elites, i.e. relationships between different factions of the political elite... more The configuration of elites, i.e. relationships between different factions of the political elite or between the political elite and other elites, along with the elite's prevailing cultural patterns, exert a strong impact on the course of societal development. Therefore, in order to understand the transitional process in Slovenia, it is necessary to analyse the character of political elites its evolution and dynamics in terms of reproduction/circulation. The thesis is that the elite configuration and cultural profile decisively determined the selection of the particular model of socio-economic regulation and, consequently, the type of capitalism that was formed to replace the previous system. However, the changes and events connected with financial crisis and economic crisis after 2008 may indicate that entire architecture of Slovenian social corporatism in the framework of state (national) type of capitalism generated a sort of immobilismo and inability to execute the necessary...
Družboslovne razprave, 2003
Dejavniki stabilizacije demokracije v dr'avah vzhodne in srednje Evrope POVZETEK: Avtor se v svoj... more Dejavniki stabilizacije demokracije v dr'avah vzhodne in srednje Evrope POVZETEK: Avtor se v svojem ~lanku ukvarja z analizo dejavnikov, pomembnih za stabilizacijo demokracije, pri ~emer se osredoto~a na kontekst postsocialisti~nih dru'b vzhodne in srednje Evrope. Pri tem razlikuje med tremi tipi dejavnikov: eksternimi, ki so del notranje dru'benega okolja politi~nega sistema (socialnimi, ekonomskimi, kulturnimi), internacionalnimi, ki izhajajo iz zunanje-dru'benega (mednarodnega) okolja in internimi, ki se sestavni del samega politi~nega sistema. Dokazuje, da gre pri tistih dr'avah, ki so v procesu demokratizacije pri{le najdlje, za sovpadanje ugodnej{ih razmer glede vseh treh tipov dejavnikov. KLJU^NE BESEDE: demokratizacija, dejavniki politi~ne stabilnosti, vzhodna in srednja Evropa.
Europe-Asia Studies, 2002
POLITICAL ELITES IN POST-SOCIALIST SOCIETIES are made up of individuals and groups of various soc... more POLITICAL ELITES IN POST-SOCIALIST SOCIETIES are made up of individuals and groups of various social and historical origins and ideological orientations: former dissidents of diverse provenance, more or less reformist members of the ex-communist nomenklatura, ...
Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 2009
The authors proceed from the assumption that the institutional and economic efficiency of a parti... more The authors proceed from the assumption that the institutional and economic efficiency of a particular country (or society) depends on its historic legacy or ‘path-dependence’, strategic interactions of the elite and the impact of the international environment. Estonia and Slovenia are both — not only economically, but also institutionally — perceived as relatively successful and prominent post-communist countries and new members of the EU. Yet they have developed completely different — in some aspects even diametrically opposite — regulative settings and socio-political arrangements. The main emphasis is on the connection between the dynamics and ideological preferences of political actors and the pace of reforms as well as institutional regulations. One can argue that the political elite in Estonia encouraged the shaping of the state in a direction close to the liberal-market model, whereas Slovenia is closer to the corporatist social welfare-state model. In both cases, some dysfu...
Corvinus Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 2017
The article deals with recent developments in terms of elite configuration and its impact on poli... more The article deals with recent developments in terms of elite configuration and its impact on political stability in post-communist countries from East-Central Europe, especially with regard to the structure of political/party space. The author observes that none of the countries from this region has a political space that matches those of established democracies, where the key role is played by two parties, one on the left and another on the right of the political center. The claim is made that these developments are strongly related to an increase in polarization within the political elite, and the corresponding decline in elite consensus, resulting in the weakening of the potential for cooperation between elite factions. It is argued that this decline is only partially conditioned by global crisis, but is more significantly correlated to the specific nature of the transformation process.
Tematsko se raziskava osredotoča na problem korupcije, njenih vzrokih in sprejemanjem le-te med d... more Tematsko se raziskava osredotoča na problem korupcije, njenih vzrokih in sprejemanjem le-te med državljankami in državljani. Vprašanja se nanašajo na problemska področja kot so: javne službe, izkušnje s korupcijo, razširjenost korupcije, nadzorom, pregonom in zakonodajo, ki ureja to področje. Vprašalnik je sestavljen iz treh sklopov. Medtem ko je prvi namenjen osrednjemu problemu raziskave, tj. korupciji, drugi sprašuje o zadovoljstvu z demokracijo, oceni stanja v gospodarstvu, volilnih preferencah, aktualni referendumski pobudi o ukinitvi KPK, percepciji dohodka ter zaupanju v ustanove. Tretji del vsebuje vprašanja socio-demografskega izvora. Oblikovan vprašalnik se naslanja na raziskave Inštituta Svetovne banke.Thematically, the survey focuses on the problem of corruption, its causes and acceptance among slovenian citizens. Questions gather information from fields such as: public service, public experience with corruption, range of corruption, surveillance, persecution and legisla...
The Routledge International Handbook of European Social Transformations, 2017
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Articles by Matevž Tomšič
Papers by Matevž Tomšič