THE CRISIS OF 2008 AND THE RISE OF THE SLOVENIAN CONSOLIDATION STATE

The purpose of the article is to explain the creation of the Slovenian debt state and its transformation into a consolidation state after the crisis of 2008. When the crisis struck Slovenia in 2009, the banking system was near collapse. Through the recapitalisations of the banking system the public debt began to grow. After a couple of years and under the structural pressures of rating agencies and pressures from the EU, the Slovenian state had to adopt austerity measures to consolidate its public finances, while limiting the scope of democracy. The main finding of the article is that the crisis of 2008 fundamentally changed the Slovenian state. Keywords: capitalist state, consolidation state, debt, Slovenia, democracy

CLIMATE CRISIS: TIME TO RETHINK ECONOMIC PLANNING BY DEMYSTIFYING CAPITALISM AND ITS MARKET(S)

The purpose of the article is to open up epistemological space for revitalising the idea of democratic economic planning as a viable alternative vision. It argues that a proper development of the idea must be preceded by a comprehensive critical interrogation of a hegemonic multidimensional ideological mystification of capitalism and its markets. By utilizing Marxist and eco-socialist insights the article identifies and analyses several central ideological mystifications that enact an epistemic closure. These range from the obfuscation of capitalism’s role in creating the climate crisis as an inherently unsustainable system, to the mystification of its non-evolutionary origins, to the obfuscation of the role economic planning plays in contemporary capitalism, to the mystification of markets as ideal spaces of freedom and innovation obfuscating the ever present market-related oppression, exploitation and environmental devastation, and to silencing concrete historical examples of democratic economic planning such as project Cybersyn that should serve as an inspiration for imagining an alternative order. Keywords: climate change, ideological mystification, democratic economic planning, capitalism, neoliberalism

NATIVIST AND ANTI-LIBERAL NARRATIVES IN CONSERVATIVE POPULIST AGENDA IN CENTRAL EUROPE

Nativism does not only present a concept, but also an ideological framework as well as a political practice related to identity politics. In the article we firstly present the theoretical reflection of nativism and operationalise the most important terms and characteristics of this phenomenon. Later, we apply the concept of nativism to the analysis of conservative populist and/or nativist political actors in the Central European region. The analysis shows how nativism, as a relatively peripheral issue in the first 10–15 years after the democratic transition, became stronger in the next period characterised by a set of crises after 2008. The analysis demonstrates how the mainstream parties in Central Europe adopted the nativist and conservative populist agenda and implemented it into mainstream politics. Furthermore, the analysis shows how Central European nativism correlates with the long-term existence of antiliberal streams that were revitalised after the fall of Communist regimes. These anti-modern societal groups were reformulated as the counter-cosmopolitan camp within the polarisation process that is clearly visible in the political arena. Keywords: nativism; national conservatism; identity politics; Central Europe

(RE)THINKING THE STATE IN THE 21ST CENTURY

In this article, we argue that social sciences generally and political science in particular are faced with a peculiar epistemological challenge while researching the state in the 21st century. Namely, the state has often been either naturalised, seen as a static and ahistorical entity resistant to changes in the environment, or naïvely rejected as a form of political organisation that is with neoliberal globalisation withering away. In either instance, the processes of redefining and redistributing of the state, and hence its de-/reterritorialising and rescaling, have largely gone unnoticed. Our analysis reassesses the hegemonic theories of state and shows that in the mainstream of political science research on the state is still anchored to the (geographical) assumptions that limit or even define the state and its exercise of power to a geographically demarcated and fixed territory. Drawing on recent approaches to space, scale and territory, this article calls for a heterodox and pluralist methodology in further research on state as well as non-state spaces. Keywords: the state, non-state spaces, globalisation, territory, political geography

THE POLITICAL VERSUS THE STATE? THE RELEVANCE OF CARL SCHMITT’S CONCEPT OF THE POLITICAL

The aim of the article is to examine the relationship between the state, democracy and the Carl Schimitt’s concept of the political. That is going to be done by reconstructing the concepts of Schmitt’s political theory and finding out whether they can be used to explain the ideology of the new right-wing populism and illiberal democracy. As it turns out, the Schmitt’s reduction of the political to the friend/enemy antagonism makes the core of the illiberal democracies’ ruling narrative. The Schimtt’s understanding of the political doesn’t defend the state as a political space but by cancelling of the liberal elements of democracy ruins the state institutions. The analysis shows that Schmitt’s notion of the political cannot be used to build effective democratic state institutions. Namely, in his definition of the political, politics actually exists only on the outwards, towards some other nation, some other political unity, but not within the state itself. Keywords: state, the political, Carl Schmitt, illiberal democracy

POSTIMPERIALNI PATRIARHAT IN KARNEVALESKNA PERIFERIJA: MELANIA TRUMP V TRANSNACIONALNI JAVNOSTI

Povzetek. Članek obravnava recepcijo prve dame Melanie Trump v ameriškem in slovenskem javnem prostoru. Analiza v prvem delu temelji na razčlenitvi medijskih upodobitev v reviji The New Yorker. V drugem delu se ukvarja z odzivi v slovenski javnosti s posebnim poudarkom na dveh spletnih portalih (siol.si in delo. si). Temeljna ugotovitev primerjave je, da v ameriškem kontekstu prevladuje distribuiranje medijskih podob Melanie Trump kot naturalizirane prve dame s koreninami na socialističnem Vzhodu. V slovenskem prostoru je dejstvo etnične pripadnosti predmet prisvajanja v nacionalno fantazijo, ki, nasprotno, utrjuje predstavo o razvezi s socialistično preteklostjo, pri čemer pa se, kot pokaže primer postavitve kipa v rojstni Sevnici, kažejo tudi poskusi destabiliziranja dihotomije center-periferija. Študija si na podlagi teh dvoumnih odzivov zastavlja raziskovalno vprašanje usode simbolnega materinstva v dobi transnacionalizacije sodobnih družb. Ključni pojmi: Melania Trump, prva dama, postsocializem, nacionalizem, spol, Vzhod

MEDIJI IN SPONTANI NACIONALIZEM: PRIMER MELANIE TRUMP

Povzetek. Članek analizira reprezentacije Melanie Trump v slovenskih tiskanih medijih in raziskuje, kako je bil v prispevkih o Melanii Trump konstruiran spontani nacionalizem, ta pa je bil v medijih povezan s promocijo slovenske nacije prek Melanie kot blagovne znamke. Moč nacionalnih vezi, idej in tradicije je namreč vzdrževana in redistribuirana prek medijev in popularne kulture, zato avtorja v nasprotju z literaturo s tega področja, ki medije večinoma obravnava le kot mediatorje, v članku tudi kritično naslavljata vprašanje vloge medijev v procesu znamčenja nacije in jih obravnavata kot neodvisne akterje. Avtorja analizirata 594 prispevkov o Melanii Trump, objavljenih v slovenskih tiskanih medijih v obdobju treh mesecev v letih 2016 in 2017. Analiza tiskanih medijev v Sloveniji je pokazala, da številne in ponavljajoče se medijske reprezentacije »Melanie« potiskajo slovenski nacionalizem v komercialni kontekst in posledično transformirajo nacijo v blago. Ključni pojmi: medijski diskurz, komodifikacija, Melania Trump, prva dama, nacionalizem, znamčenje nacije

ON MIGRANTS WITH MIGRANTS: MIGRATIONS 5 YEARS AFTER EUROPE’S MIGRATION »CRISIS«

In which ways can we theorise the recent illegalised migrations in Europe? This article considers theoretical novelties in the field of migration studies that have emerged since the mass migration into the European Union seen in 2015. Methodologically, the authors combine critical (discursive) analysis with the testing of certain still relevant theoretical concepts that have yet to be applied in migration studies, based on fieldwork along the Balkan Route over the last 5 years. The analysis has shown that the defining and decisive feature of the recent illegalised migrations, insufficiently considered by migrations scholarship, is the political subjectivity and agency of the migrants. Recognition of such agency makes migration the site of the critique of global inequalities and the site of inclusive social transformation. Keywords: Migrations; Europe; Political Theory; State; Balkan Migrant Route

EVENTIZACIJA IN KOMODIFIKACIJA POLITIKE NA INSTAGRAMU

Povzetek. Politika 21. stoletja je zaradi mediatizacije, eventizacije in vdiranja tržne logike v politično polje vedno bolj personalizirana. V ospredju niso politike, temveč osebe, ki delujejo v političnem polju. Politiki in političarke so s svojim delovanjem blizu zvezdnikom in zvezdnicam, saj privid kompetence bolj kot v političnem delovanju črpajo v svoji zasebnosti oziroma osebnih vrednotah. Dosegajo ga z uprizarjanjem določenega spola in razreda, s pomočjo česar se v populistični maniri približujejo »ljudstvu« oziroma »navadnemu človeku«. Članek analizira uprizarjanje moškosti in razreda ter posledično depolitizacijo prek Instagrama na primeru dveh predsednikov držav, Boruta Pahorja in Aleksandra Vučića. Čeprav oba predsednika v svojem domačem političnem polju delujeta populistično in občasno tudi domačijsko, na njunih profilih na Instagramu prevladuje uprizarjanje kozmopolitske, v primeru Pahorja pa tudi nove, narcisoidne moškosti. Medtem ko Vučić daje prednost objavam s tujimi voditelji z mednarodnih srečanj, je pri Pahorju bistveno več fotografij iz njegove zasebnosti in domačega okolja. Ključni pojmi: mediatizacija, depolitizacija, eventizacija, Instagram, politika, uprizarjanje, spol, razred

POPULARNA KULTURA IN REGRESIVNI POPULIZEM

Povzetek. Družbe se tako na individualni kot na kolektivni ravni nenehno presojajo skozi lastne elite. Medijski diskurz »celebrifikacije« in vseprisotno lokalno kulturo slavnežev razumem kot pomemben legitimacijski narativ in enega od ključnih prispevkov k postsocialističnemu neoliberalnemu konsenzu. Članek se ukvarja z reprezentacijo Melanije Trump v slovenskih medijih in na podlagi empiričnega materiala analizira prepletenost diskurza slavnih oseb v komercialni popularni kulturi z regresivnim populizmom. Analiza ugotavlja, da zvezdništvo predstavlja pomembno diskurzivno prakso legitimiranja obstoječih razrednih razmerij in redistribucije javnega bogastva v postsocializmu, ki ga je kot del kulturnega repertoarja »protonacionalnega« sentimenta mogoče organizirati v podporo desničarskega populizma. Ključni pojmi: regresivni populizem, razred, postsocializem, slavnost, Melanija Trump