HAS OUR DREAM COME TRUE?

20 years of Civil Society in Slovenia

Matej Cepin, Danilo Kozoderc, Sašo Kronegger

www.socialna-akademija.si

CIP - Kataložni zapis o publikaciji

Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica, Ljubljana

321.011.5(497.4)

CEPIN, Matej

Has our dream come true? [Elektronski vir] : 20 years of civil

society in Slovenia / Matej Cepin, Danilo Kozoderc, Sašo Krone-

gger ; [published by] Socialna akademija. - El. knjiga. - Ljublja-

na : Socialna akademija : Salve, 2014

ISBN 978-961-211-735-1 (Salve, pdf)

1. Kozoderc, Danilo 2. Kronegger, Sašo

272722176

Has our dream come true?

20 years of Civil Society in Slovenia

Authors:

Matej Cepin, Danilo Kozoderc, Sašo Kronegger

Design: Toni Anžlovar

Layout: Sabina Hosta

Translation: Elizabeta Marn, Barbara Intihar

Digitally published by Socialna akademija

and Salve d.o.o. Ljubljana

© Socialna akademija 2014

(http://www.socialna-akademija.si)

Ljubljana 2014

This comparative research of Civil Societies in Central and Eastern

European was financed by CEE TRUST – Trust for Civil Society in

Central and Eastern Europe (Grant Number CBI_2009_11, Civil Eu-

rope Association)

Kazalo

Executive Summary ................................................................................................................... 1

1. The ‘Dream’ of a Country ...................................................................................................5

1.1. Pre and Post World War II Social Conditions and the Idea of Autonomy .. 6

1.2. Developing a Dream of One’s Own Country ........................................................ 8

1.3. Sudden Unity in Dreaming of an Independent Country? ............................... 9

1.4. Who Was Dreaming and What Were They Dreaming about? ...................... 11

1.5. Dreams about the Civil Society ................................................................................22

1.7. Conclusion ..........................................................................................................................25

2. Civil Society in Slovenia: A Failure of a Democratic Ideal ..............................27

2. 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................27

2. 2. Historical Context ....................................................................................................... 28

2. 3. Slovenian NGOs: Their growth and State of Affaires ................................33

2.4. Relationship of the Citizens towards Civil Society ..................................... 49

2.5. The NGO participation in the processes of decision-making ..................57

2.6. Conclusion and Extensions ....................................................................................... 61

3. Embeddedness of Advocacy Organisations in Slovenia ............................... 65

3.1. Theoretical background .............................................................................................. 65

3.2. Methodological background ................................................................................... 69

3.3. Quantitative survey analysis ..................................................................................74

3.4. Interviews analysis ..................................................................................................... 92

3.5. Focus groups analysis .............................................................................................109

3.6. Conclusions ..................................................................................................................... 115

4. General Conclusions and Policy Recommendations ........................................ 121

4.1. Knowledge about CSOs and the Level of Trust in Them .............................. 121

4.2. Social Participation ....................................................................................................122

4.3. How Do Organizations React to These Conditions?..................................123

4.4. Civil Society in Slovenia and Advocacy ........................................................... 124

4.5. Policy Recommendations ........................................................................................ 125

5. References ...........................................................................................................................127

6. Annexes ................................................................................................................................133

6.1. Advocacy organizations respodents are active in ........................................133

6.2. Organizations respondents plan to get involved with .............................. 134

6.3.Organisations and movements respondents trust ..................................... 134

6.4.Overall ranking of organizations mentioned .................................................. 136

6.5. Organizations participating in focus groups ................................................ 138

6.6. Successful and unsuccessful promotional campaigns and initiatives as

stated by focus groups respondents ......................................................................... 139

Executive Summary

The overall aim of ‘Have our dreams come true’ project was

to evaluate to what extent the dreams about civil society

in Slovenia have come true after the country’s transition to

democracy.

The report has 4 main parts. In Chapter 1 we explore how

the civil and political elites defined dreams about civil

society in 1980s and how have these dreams developed

since. In Chapter 2, we use a comprehensive data analysis

to present the main features of the civil society in Slovenia

in both past and present times. We also provide the mean

explanations to the sluggish development of the Slovenian

civil society. Chapter 3 embarks on a multi-level analysis of

the embeddedness of advocacy organisations of Slovenian

civil society. The concluding Chapter 4 provides general

oversights and policy recommendations.

In the 1980s, the authors of the Slovenian dreams about

civil society were working mainly on the change of political

system and not on a search for the answer how to empower

the individual to fully function in the democratic system.

In the 1980s, intellectuals together with the alternative civil

society and the Roman Catholic Church made the dreams

possible to emerge and flourish. Mainly the arguments of

sovereignty and self-determination of the Slovene nation,

political pluralism and respect for human rights were used.

Dreams were later operationalized by the oppositional poli-

ticians into dreams of Slovenia as an own country.

After 1991, the basic responsibility for the provision of

social welfare should be transferred from the state to the

individual. This should reduce the significance of public

sector and increase the significance of civil society. However, at

the time of democratic transition, Slovenia did not experience

a quick increase in institutionalized civil life as majority of

other post-communistic countries did. One of main reasons

for that can be found in 1974 institutional changes which

made associational life limited but possible.

Has our dream come true? 1

While after 1991 the numbers of organized membership

and the NGOs has been steadily increasing, the Sloveni-

an civil society remains marginalized. Its personnel and

financial potential is unexplored and poorly used. Civil

society is poorly organized and poorly interconnected. Their

personnel are usually poorly trained and inadequate.

The citizens in general do not distinguish between the

sources of a service, i.e., provided by the state, civil society,

or the market. What matters most for them is that such a

service is available.

Embededness of an individual organization of the civil

society in a specific environment depends on three para-

meters: democratic and participatory culture in the enviro-

nment, the advocacy area of organization functioning and

organizational management. It seems that only when all

the three parameters are fulfilled at the same time, we can

declare organisation as embedded.

Some advocacy areas are more or less popular in the pu-

blic. Areas that address concrete issues, which people have

in their everyday life, are considered by the people as the

most embedded areas. More abstract or global areas stand

on the bottom of the charts.

A big part of the representatives of civil society organi-

zations see advocacy in a very limited and often even

deformed way. Thus they do not fully recognize the mission

of advocacy function of their organizations, nor the needs

and opportunities in advocacy.

Most of the civil society organizations do not use all the

potentials speaking about the involvement of the citizens

in the advocacy activities. Communication with different

public, be it membership, supporters, experts, targeted

public, or country, in most organizations is not carried out in

the long-term or intentionally. We notice a strong presence

of the ad-hoc organizational culture.

Representatives of the organizations do not pay enough

attention to contacts with different public. The employed

are a very influential group. They often decide on matters

2 Has our dream come true?

which should be, according to the statutes in organizations,

decided by other bodies.

Civil society organizations are too small to be able to visibly

influence on the democratic and participatory culture in the

country. Majority does not have an effective access to the

population.

Has our dream come true? 3

4 Has our dream come true?

1. The ‘Dream’ of a Country

There is a basic distinction between the social situation in

Slovenia on the verge of the 1990s and the parallel situation

in other countries explored in the project ‘Have our dreams

come true?’ Slovenes never lived in their own country until

the beginning of the 1990s. The dreams of democratization,

freedom, and human rights were intrinsically linked to the

dreams of having a country of one’s own and autonomy of

decision-making.

France Bučar, the then-president of the National Assembly,

delivered the following message on June 25, 1991 at the pro-

clamation of the Basic Constitutional Charter of the Autono-

my and Independence of the Republic of Slovenia (Pesek,

2009): “This is one of the most important events in our history....

This act is certainly the culmination of the Slovenian nation

who has been trying to make its own home for centuries. Howe-

ver, this is not the end, nor the beginning of our history. It is the epoch-making point in our national lives, for we have come

in a position where we can decide independently about our

destiny.”

This great desire to create a ‘home’ has clouded a more

fundamental dream of political pluralism and respect for

human rights. Moreover, an autonomous and indepen-

dent country as such does not make the life of its citizens

necessarily better or freer. The significance of independence

lies mainly in the ability of an autonomous and responsible

decision-making of the citizenry.

Twenty years later, Bučar (Siol, 2010) expressed doubts

about this having happened: “Before 1990, we wanted

our own country and more freedom. We expected people

to accept their country more as a part of their own system

of values and to treat it as something that is theirs.” This

evaluation represents a colourful example both of what the

dreams of Slovenian society looked like twenty years

ago and of the fact that these expectations never fully

Has our dream come true? 5

materialized. Bučar, one of the founding fathers of



Slovenian independence thus helps us in this chapter to

address the following questions: What kind of dreams was

expressed in the period of democratic changes? What

social groups were able to articulate and express these dreams

within the Slovenian public discourse? And, what specific

dreams in regards to civil society were present alongsi-

de with the dreams of an autonomous and independent

country?

Tito said in 1965: “If

in 1970 dinar1 is not 1.1. Pre and Post World War II Social

convertible, the people Conditions and the Idea of Autonomy

will righteously lose



their trust in the Fe-

To be able to fully understand the social conditions in whi-

deration of Commu-

ch emerged and flourished the idea of an autonomous

country, we first present the relations between the nations

nists.” The year 1970

within former Yugoslavia.

passed, the year 1980 After the First World War emerged a new and artificially passed; now we are in created state unifying several distinct nations of what was 1988, and we have to soon to be called the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. These inter-face worse problems

national conditions influenced the future unity– and disuni-

ty – of the Yugoslav nations much more than any potential

than just the incon-

desire of these peoples could ever have. Before the First

vertible ‘dinar’.

World War, no collective Yugoslav nation or even culture

A politician Ivan

existed. The citizens of the new country spoke different

languages. Most often, for example, the citizens from other

Oman at the Assem-

regions could not understand Slovenian language. Among

bly for the foursome, these emerging nations there also existed important religi-1988

ous differences. Catholics, the Orthodox Church, Muslims,

Jews and many other denominations inhabited the new

state. And, significantly, political ideas used by the leaders

to unite these diverse nations, such as ‘Yugoslavization’

of the king Aleksander Karadjordjević the ensuing Josip

Broz Tito’s concept of fraternity and unity, proved largely

unsuccessful.

Within the new interwar political setting, the economy in

1) Currency of Yugoslavia at that time

6 Has our dream come true?

the region inhabitated by Slovenes started to deteriorate.

Before 1918, Slovenian economy was still competitive with

other European economies. However, while after the war

Slovenia benefited from exporting products to the joint

Yugoslav market. However, after 1918 it started to fall

behind heavily. The simple reason for the failing market

was the fact that other Yugoslav regions fell behind other

countries (Granda, 2008). This trend continued after the

Second World War. Moreover, among the Slovenes



there was an acute perception of economic exploitation by

Belgrade. This sentiment started to grow in strength



particularly in the 1960s and 1970s with the events of the

so-called ‘road affair in 1969’, and the affaires connected

to the lack of collecting taxes in some parts of Yugoslavia.

Federal politics often focused narrowly on the least



developed parts of the country, frequently disregarding

economically more developed Slovenia.

In addition to the growing social and economic dissatis-

faction among the Slovenes came the death of Josip Broz-

Tito. Tito’s death in the 1980 created a sense of an integra-

tive and ideological emptiness. What is more, his death

coincided with the World Energy Crisis, the closing of Slo-

venian mines, the crisis of several industrial branches (e.g.,

car and textile industries) and the financial pressures of the

overdue Yugoslav debts. Federal government frequently



reacted to the general crisis with unreasonable measures.

For example, the government took away autonomous



rights from Kosovo and Vojvodina and started to heavily

centralize the country. The leaderships within different



republics reacted to these trends and started to work more on a

national than federal level. Questions of national and



nationalist identities merged and the self-awareness of



several Yugoslav nations grew stronger. In Serbia, for



instance, a nationalistic leader Slobodan Milošević used the

political vacuum created in Yugoslavia in order to come to

power and advance his agenda. His rise to power caused more

and more conflicts between the republics as well as serious mi-

litary threats to which other republics such as Slovenia quickly

responded with an intention of separation and independence.

Has our dream come true? 7

1.2. Developing a Dream of One’s Own

Country

After the Second World War, the idea of having one’s own

country started to become progressively more popular

among the Slovenes. This idea was especially strong among

the post-war political emigrants and the many econo-

mic emigrants who went abroad after 1960. There was a

massive support to the idea of an independent country at

the time of the above-mentioned ‘road affair’ in 1969 (Gran-

da, 2008), when the federal government took away the in-

ternational loan intended to build motorways.

The window of opportunity emerged with the gradual

collapse of communism and the beginning of a global

re-arrangement of Europe. These historic events fatally loo-

sened the Yugoslav federation, making possible the emer-

gence of new independent nations.

Starting in 1987, Slovenian intellectuals published articles

about the Slovenian National Programme in the memo-

rable 57th issue of Nova Revija. Since that moment, the

events occurred much faster than anyone ever expected. In

1988, several crucial developments took place. Democratic

political parties appeared under the form of civil initiati-

ves. Three journalists of the Mladina newspaper and the

military non-commissioned officer revealed a secret military

document that suggested resorting to violent measures

to address the people who were in charge of the demand

of democracy. Their arrest made people come out on the

streets. In 1989, the May Declaration was proclaimed. The

declaration openly demanded a sovereign and democratic

country. In 1989 a multiparty system was legislated, and in

1990 the first democratic elections were held. The Democra-

tic Opposition Demos won the election. These events set

the scene for the establishment of the independence. At the

plebiscite of December 23, 1990, a great majority (93.2% of

the electorate) voted in favour of the independence.

8 Has our dream come true?

A few months after the plebiscite, the Basic Constitutional

Charter of the Autonomy and Independence of the Republic

of Slovenia was proclaimed. A 10-day war followed, in which

the Slovenian army surprised Europe by its well organized

resistance to the Yugoslav People’s Army. The European

Union quickly proclaimed a successful tree-month cessation

of fighting, which brought about peace and offered the young

government time to lobby for the international recognitions

of independence. Most of the world countries recognized

Slovenian political independence in 1991 and in 1992. On May

22 of 1992, Slovenia became a member of the United Nations.

1.3. Sudden Unity in Dreaming of an

Independent Country?

The convincing majority, with which the citizens of Slove-

nia declared their dreams of an independence, raises ama-

zement even after more than twenty years within both

scientific and general views. Never before has the Slovenian

nation achieved that kind of unity. We explain this sudden

unity by the following factors.

The first factor is a common external enemy. At the end of

the 1980s it started to become obvious that a conflictual,

single-party, and economically stagnating Yugoslavia was

a frame too tight for the further development of Slovenia.

Imperialistic aspirations of Milošević’s Serbia became more

and more obvious. These were not just economic threats

to Slovenia, but implied that large armed conflicts may ha-

ppen in the immediate future.

The second factor is the wholeness of the dreams about

one’s own country. These dreams were so broad that one

could address someone entirely, that is in all of their dimen-

sions (as implied by Čerin). We present this factor under the

following dimensions.

•	 Financial dimension. The citizens of Slovenia were on

Has our dream come true? 9

the one side observing their home economy go down,

but on the other they were right next to the economically

much more developed Austria and Italy. Many Slovenian

citizens were paying regular visits to these countries.

•	 Social dimension. The inhabitants were observing



social injustices and illogicalities that were happening in

the Yugoslav political peak and in connection with the

Yugoslav People’s Army on a daily basis. Consequently,

people were organizing different forms of protests, which

had a multiplying effect (a support for others).

•	 Emotional dimension. The Yugoslav identity weakened,

and the Slovene identity became stronger. Here were

crucial all organized and unorganized forms of support of

the Slovenian cultural tradition as well as the emphasis on

national characteristics, which were at that time present

in the culture, the economy, sports, etc.

•	 Cognitive dimension. New facts in relation with the

functioning of the communist government after the

Second World War were being found. These put doubt in

the legitimacy of the functioning of the Communist Party,

and revealed a number of post-war violent actions and

mass slaughter of the innocent civilians. Even after 20

years all of them have not been revealed.

•	 Moral dimension. In public, people talked more about

democracy and respect for human rights, especially in

connection with daily political issues, such as the arrest

of the foursome.

•	 Spiritual dimension. Catholic Church was a strong pillar

of the Slovenian culture before the Second World War,

but the post-war events and processes almost stopped

its functioning. With government’s seemingly higher

tolerance threshold to the civil society and the church,

the events related to religiosity developed quickly.

The third factor explaining the unity in relation to the

dreams of an independent country is what we call ‘width’.

The dreams included almost everyone. Anyone could find

10 Has our dream come true?

a part in these dreams, be it a businessman dreaming of

less bureaucratic obstacles at the opening of his enter-

prise, a consumer who dreamt of a more varied choice of

products on the market, a cultural creator who dreamt of more

freedom of expression, a future politician who dreamt of

his own political career, or someone who saw in his own

country the only chance to preserve the privileges obtained

in the former regime.

The fourth factor is the concreteness of dreams. It is about

dreams whose final result is possible to imagine. They are

realizable.

However, if concreteness of dreams provided their wide

social support, there is a question about the negative effects

of this concreteness. Do dreams which are too solid deserve

to be called dreams at all, or was there some sort of a vision,

(partial) objective in this case? If dreams are realizable, there

is always a danger of them leaving behind some emptiness.

1.4. Who Was Dreaming and What Were

They Dreaming about?

The main ‘dreamers’ in Slovenia were the following:

the intellectuals, politicians, civil society, the Roman



Catholic Church, and alternative cultural movements. In

this section we first present the main ‘dreams’ of each of

these crucial social groups. In the last part of this secti-

on some pieces are stated which in our opinion comple-

te and actualize the picture of dreams and had a strong

influence primarily on the widest circles of the population.

1.4.1. Intel ectuals

Slovenian dreams were expressed in the most clear and

extensive way in the 57th issue of Nova Revija. Nova Revija,

a monthly magazine of culture was allowed by the go-

vernment in 1982. Since then the magazine became an

Has our dream come true? 11

intellectual home primarily for cultural workers. Occa-

sionally, other intellectuals would join this circle, such

associologists, lawyers, and philosophers. This particular

issue published in 1987 was titled ‘Articles of the



Slovenian National Programme’. The authors exami-

ned questions of the identity of the Slovenian nation, its

sovereignty, national character, confidence, position of the

Slovenes in Yugoslavia, Slovenian language and Slovenian

history. The preface of this issue states: “It is about initiati-

ve to think differently about the Slovenes, the new concept of

Slovenianism, which is supposed to be constituted in the insti-

tutions of a potentially sovereign nation in its everyday life –

considering the demands of the new historical epoch.”

Perhaps there is no exaggeration in saying that intellec-

tuals were the first to publicly and loudly express their

opinion. They opened the public space for a new type of

discussion. They encouraged members of other social

groups to reflect on these issues. And, most importantly,

they paved the way for the emergence and consolidati-

on of Slovenian dreams. Some of its authors (such as Dr

Jože Pučnik, Dr France Bučar and Dr Dimitrij Rupel) later

actively entered the politics. They in part made it possible

for the hypotheses which are based on justice of soverei-

gnty of the Slovenian nation to realize in practice as well.

1.4.2. Politicians

Slovenian political opposition movement of the late 1980s

followed the ideas of the intellectuals. The opposition

movement operationalized these ideas and translated them

into concrete political dreams of an independent state.

Slovenian opposition movement was formally founded in

May 1988 with the foundation of Slovenian Farmers Fede-

ration. Many others federations followed in 1989.2 Having

entered political life, these newly founded ‘federations’,

often advocated for completely different political program-

mes. Some of them emphasized democracy, others the

2 Slovenian Democratic Alliance (Dimitrij Rupel), Social-Democratic Union of Slovenia(France Tomšič),Slovene Christian Social Movement ((Peter Kovačič), Burgois Green Party (Marek Lenardič), Yugoslav Federation (Matjaž Anžurjev), 12 Has our dream come true? Green Movement (Dušan Plut), Federation of a Yugoslav Democratic Incentive (Rastko Močnik) and some other groups.

nation. Still others built their image on anticommunism. “We are attending Many of these federations became political parties after a elections in order to new law on parties was passed at the beginning of 1990.

The parties existing within the communist regime joined win. And to end a new political arena. For example, the Liberal Democratic political and econo-Party emerged from the League of Socialist Youth of Slove- mic experimentation, nia. The Party of Democratic Renewal arose from the League which has led our of Communists of Slovenia. And the Socialist Federation of society and economy Slovenia emerged from the Alliance of the Working People

of Slovenia.

to the brink of an

The basic political document of the opposition was the abyss. By winning we

‘May Declaration’. The May Declaration was not only

shall prevent them

signed by the influential Society of Slovenian Writers from pushing us into but also the Slovenian Democratic Alliance, the Slove- the abyss. We shall be nian Farmers Federation, the Slovene Christian Social

deciding for a normal

Movement, and the Social-Democratic Union of Slovenia.

The demands of the May Declaration were the following: European country, a normal order, a

•	 A life in a sovereign country of the Slovenian nation,

normal life where we

•	 the right to independent decision-making about the shall not fear all-night connections with South Slavonic and other nations in the sessions and other renewed Europe,

•	 a demand of justification of the Slovenian country,

similar circuses.”

based on respect for human rights and liberties, democra- Politician Ivan Oman, cy which includes political pluralism and social order at the assembly of which shall guarantee a spiritual and financial welfare in Demos, 1990

accordance with human ability of the citizens of Slovenia.

On the basis of the demands of the May Declaration and

the programmes of the individual parties, 7 parties united

into a Democratic Opposition Demos before the elections

in 1990. ‘Demos’ made a programme emphasizing two

fundamental demands:

•	 A civil society, including a country of rule of law and

pluralistic democracy, and

•	 National political and economic sovereignty.

Has our dream come true? 13

“Only when we will have realized these two fundamen-

tal demands” , the programme states, “shall Slovenia be

incorporated in the civil and democratic Europe.”

The parties within the coalition Demos were ideologically

very different. Internal agreements within the coalition were

time-consuming and wearisome. After the project of the

independence was successfully carried out, and when it was

already well-known that Slovenia would become a member

of the Organization of the United Nations, the coalition fell

apart. However, although it was seemingly ephemeral, the

Firstly: the concept

coalition accomplished the main objectives of its programme.

of a socialist society

seems problematic to 1.4.3. Civil Society

me. The forces of the

Even though the Slovenian parliament in 1974 passed a

civil society were wea- relatively liberal legislation on the functioning of (civil) ring down the sociali- societies, we cannot talk about an existing civil society in the 1970s and 1980s. As the constitution states, the ‘civil

sm. And vice versa.

society’ was presented in the assembly by the Socialist

Gregor Tomc in the

Alliance of the Working People (SAWP), as a kind of an

umbrella organization. It was obviously not founded



57th issue of Nova

‘bottom-up’ but was strongly influenced by the Commu-

Revija (1987)

nist Party of Slovenia. Edvard Kardelj wrote in his work ‘Po-

litical System of the Socialist Self-Management’ (Kardelj,

1979) about the SAWP: “While the Communist Federation

is by its social-historical role focused mainly on the ideatio-

nal and general political problems of the development of the

socialist society, the Socialist Federation has to address

chiefly the problems of the realization of interests of the wor-

king crowds and their self-managing communities, which

arise from general ideational and political movements of

the society, and by all means, it also has to define its attitu-

de towards ideational and political problems of the further

development of socialism.” The role of the SAWP was

in theory a means for the people to realize their



interests. However, this realization was not to take place in the

14 Has our dream come true?

field of ‘ideational and general problems’ but in the area of

self-managing socialism.

In the political and scientific field, there were and still

are different opinions on to the extent to which the

regime in the 80s in Slovenia was authoritarian/totalitari-

an. Pučnik (1987) writes: “At the moment we are living in a

liberal phase in Slovenia… (but) even though there was no

voluntary administration in any cultural field in Slove-

nia at this very moment, the political system would still

be totalitarian because the party can decide to use stron-

ger or even maximal amounts of power any time… That

is where the anxiety and fear in people, even in myself

comes from: What if it comes to an extraordinary



session of the Central Committee and they ‘estimate’ that

‘order has to be made’ tonight?” Even if we cannot say the

regime in the 80s was totalitarian the fear was still the

main source of holding back the development of the civil

society.

Despite the authoritarian or even midly totalitarian nature

of the political regime, specific activities were financed

through the SAWP. These activities were finances espe-

cially through the Union of Socialist Youth of Slovenia

(USYS), which was represented in the SAWP. This would

never have happened through the Communist Party. The

activities were about the new social movements, which

were then included in it. Thus (Pinosa, 2009) the USYS was

the first political organization to mark the then-political-

-social condition as a social crisis at the congress in Novo

Mesto in 1984. In the USYS’s documents the background

of the crisis is revealed. It passed a diagnosis of social

condition, which differentiated in many ways from

the one that other social-political organizations were

offering.

New social movements were an ideal partner from the

inside of the USYS. They focused on the resolving of

concrete problems and did not problematize the existing

political system. It seems that the movements offered

Has our dream come true? 15

a response to the USYS at the right moment. They sugge-

sted the contents that the form called ‘independent and

democratic front of youth’ has to be filled with, without

having to renounce its socialist ideological direction (Pinosa,

2009). According to (RSNZ, 1986), there were three types

of alternative movements included in the USYS: peace

movements, ecological movements, and spiritual movements.

According to the same source, other ‘new movements’ were:

•	 the Cultural-Artistic Student Center (CASC), and inside of

the movement a female section and the section of the so-

cialization of homosexuality,

•	 the Slovenian Sociological Society,

•	 the Slovenian Journalistic Society.

These alternative movements, included in the USYS, had

a strong influence on public opinion. Groups which were

actively incorporated into the institutional frame were

in favour of the objectives that were in accordance with values

of the system (peace and non-alignment, protection of

environment, women’s equality, objectivity of informing…).

However, they also claimed that formal institutions were

not realizing the objectives consistently and sufficiently

enough. Groups constantly collaborated and organized

joint public events (round table events, lectures, assem-

blies, stands…). They represented an alternative. And the

alternative was a figment of their own thinking and foreign

theoretic results.

Peace movements were especially important. Their contri-

bution to the dreams could be observed through the shifts

in public opinion. For example, opinion survey from 1990

shows that 38,3% of the interviewees were in favour of

demilitarization of the country (29,8% were in favour of the

Slovene Army). According to SPEM (October 4, 1990), 25%

of the interviewees were in favour of the Slovenia without

army. And, according to the information of Varianta (January

29, 1991), 48,8% of the interviewees were in favour of the

Slovenia without army, while 27,1% were in favour of the

16 Has our dream come true?

Slovene Army (Jalušič, V. ‘Post Scriptum’. Mladina no. 8,

February 25 2003, p. 6.) These dreams had such power and

political influence that they were formed as one of the

constitutional points. The 63rd article of the Constitution

states: “Any inciting of violence and war is unconstitutional.”

It is worth mentioning that all the above-mentioned federa-

tions, turned into political parties with the act of 1990, can

be considered at their beginning as civil-social movements.

This part of the civil society is probably the one that contributed

the most to the fulfilment of the Slovenian dreams. There

were often dilemmas inside the specific social movements

whether to stay in the civil society or to turn into a political

party. All the big federations in the end opted for the latter.

Some scientists link the posterior powerlessness of the Slove-

ne society with personnel shortage, which occurred with it.

1.4.4. The Roman Catholic Church

The influence of the Roman Catholic Church increased

significantly in the 1980s. While the Church did not possess

capital power, it became a moral authority. It did not get

involved into the daily political happening, although the

Communist government struck it a heavy blow after the

Second World War. Its main asset in that time was a high

level of trust by the majority of population.

The dreams of the Roman Catholic Church can be best

presented by relying on two sources. The first is the

Committee for Justice and Peace at the Slovene Regional

Episcopal Conference (in the beginning it was named the

Justice and Peace Council of the Slovene Regional Episcopal

Conference). This Committee, under the leadership of Dr.

Anton Stres, actively contributed to public discourse all

the way from 1986. The other source of the dreams of the

Roman Catholic Church came the Church’s ‘fieldwork’.

According to its web site, the Justice and Peace Council

was founded in 1985, but is started to function at the

beginning of October in 1986. The contents of the Council’s

Has our dream come true? 17

work can be seen from its statements for the Slovene and

international public. It raised moral questions, such as

conscientious objection to the national service, broad-minded

thinking, nation’s independence, religious freedom, judicial

independence, etc.). All the statements have in common a

special concern for the respect of human rights, which are

the Committee’s measure to judge the social happening.

The Committee in its statements between 1986 and 1991

never takes political stand but does dare to judge and con-

demn the social happening when the human rights based

on human dignity are broken.

As an instance the reaction of the Committee to the 57th

issue of Nova Revija can be given. The Committee does

not give (1987) any opinion on the contents of the articles,

but only comments on their procedural level, referring to

the 19th article of the Universal Declaration of Human Ri-

ghts, which states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of

opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold

opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart

information and ideas through any media and regardless of

frontiers.” And further: “One should debate with authors of the articles, and renounce their statements if needed.”

As we discuss the Roman Catholic Church’s ‘fieldwork’, we

must not forget its youth work. In the period after the 2nd

Vatican Council, forms of educational-pastoral approach in

youth work became very popular. They almost completely

replaced traditional forms of religion teaching. In the 80s, the

so-called youth groups were in their highlights. It was about

groups of young people, which had meetings once a week,

where the youth were discussing different questions about

life. Music, trips and different national and international

meetings were often included. Social topics were frequently

on the repertory of their formal as well as informal conversations.

1.4.5. Alternative cultural movements

Individuals who did not have the possibility to express

themselves in this system, where the country controlled

18 Has our dream come true?

the culture, associated into the first complete subcultural

movement. It developed its own social and social-political

network on the basis of its own musical aesthetics. Inside

the operating system a new subsystem emerged, which

had a strong influence on the youth. At the same time it was

pointing to the happenings in the society through cultural

interventions, and was in favour of dignity of each individu-

al, human rights, non-violence, and demilitarization.

In the 80s, there was a flow of information of the foreign

alternative culture in the Slovene media space. The radios

Študent and a weekly magazine Mladina were spreading

the word, the Student Cultural Center (SCC) in Ljubljana,

which was founded from the student movements in the

70s, became one of the leading stimulators and promoters

of the alternative culture. The SCC had a support of the

governing parties, for it was functioning inside the UC USYS

(the University Conference of the Union of Socialist Youth

of Slovenia).

Musical production of the alternative groups was presented

at the festival Novi Rock each year. Through the years people

had different reactions to it. There were cancellations, repla-

cements at the last moment, prohibitions, censorship and

discords. At the same time theatre (FV 115/12) and different

art practices which included video production and perfor-

mance events developed.

In 1984 the col ective NSK with its cultural production (music

– Laibach, art – Irwin, design – Novi Kolektivizem, theatre

– Noordung, and philosophy) was in its own way revealing

attitudes to totalitarianism in the society.

While different alternative cultural practices were being

developed in the 80s, more than 200 different partners

(individuals, groups, organizations) gathered under the

wing of the ŠKUC (the Student Cultural Center) Forum

and the Society for Culture of Peace and Non-Violence in

1990, and linked themselves into the Network for Metel-

kova. The latter started to promote the idea about a de-

militarized zone in the former military premises. After

Has our dream come true? 19

the Yugoslav Army left in 1991, the establishment of the

multicultural centre in Metelkova was suggested; however,

the municipal and state government were not willing to

give away the premises, which led to their gradual decay.

On September 9, 1993, the Township of Ljubljana started

with demolition of the north part of Metelekova. A day

later the premises were occupied by an organized group of

volunteers, and that was when the permanent occupation

of the uninhabited premises started. These turned into the

Alternative Cultural Center Metelkova Mesto through the

years.

1.4.6. Other Fragments

This short section presents three special but crucial cir-

cumstances or environments in which the dreams of the

intellectuals, politicians and others were translated into the

general public. All the three environments were loaded

with shared emotion, based on the understanding of Slove-

nia as a homeland.

•	 Popular Culture. As an instance of a popular music

group whose lyrics portray a piece of dreams the group

Agropop, founded in 1984, has to be mentioned. The

lyrics of the group were at first making fun of the Slovenian

characteristics, the figures in their songs were simple

people (volunteer firemen, butchers, farmers, alcoho-

lics…). Between 1988 and 1991, their songs got more

patriotic, the lyrics were expressing a wish of a free and

independent Slovenia. Some of their albums’ titles are:

‘Going Forward for our Homeland with Agropop’ (1989),

‘Under the Free Sun’ (1989) and ‘In the Name of People’

(1989). One of their most successful albums is ‘Just a

Million’, which was sold in 110.000 copies. It sings about

the persistence of the Slovene nation and the right to self-

-determination.

•	 Sports. Patriotic feelings were expressed in Slovenia throu-

20 Has our dream come true?

gh sports as well. The main sport was the alpine skiing,

which had a good influence on the self-confidence of the

nation. The whole Yugoslavia was rejoicing the first

Yugoslav Winter Olympic medal (Jure Franko, Sarajevo

1984), the medals from the World Cup and other important

events; however, only Slovenian sportsmen were win-

ning them. The alpine skiers were the Slovene national

heroes in the 80s and the early 90s. The support campaign

Podarim Dobim shows the value of this sport for the

Slovene youth.

•	 Slovenia – my homeland. In 1986, a resonant promotional

video clip was filmed for the Slovenian tourism needs. The

Chamber of Commerce of Slovenia ordered it. The video

clip was designed as a part of a broad promotional cam-

paign designed in 1983, whose object was to strengthen

the image of Slovenia in the world. The video clip in a few

short takes shows tourist workers doing their last chores

before the tourists come (a decoration of the boat, pain-

ting of the fence, sprinkling the sugar over the Slovene

cake called ‘potica’, cleaning the Lipizzaner horse…). All

the takes are linked together by the scene in which a

man is writing a welcome note on a big local billboard

in seven languages. The effects of the video clip exceeded

the economic intentions, for it had a strong effect on the

patriotic emotions of the Slovenes. It emphasized natu-

ral resources, good and working people and national

pride. Everything we need for the independent country.

1.4.7. A Short Conclusion on Who Was Dreaming

The analysis of the ‘dreamers’ and their dreams confirms

the starting hypothesis that Slovenian dreams are based

mainly on the enforcement of having a country of one’s

own. Intel ectuals together with the alternative civil society

and the Roman Catholic Church made it possible for the

dreams to emerge and flourish and used mainly the argu-

ments of sovereignty and self-determination of the Slovene

Has our dream come true? 21

nation, political pluralism and respect for human rights. On

the other hand, the oppositional politics operationalized

these dreams into dreams of their own country. Popular

culture, sports and promotional campaigns translated these

dreams into the language of the crowds.

Next we are trying to respond to the question how ‘general

dreams’ reflected in dreams of the civil society and civil-

-social organizations. This aspect of the Slovenian dreams is

crucial for the research titled ‘Have our dreams come true’.

1.5. Dreams about the Civil Society

In the 57th issue of Nova Revija three authors were reflecting

upon the civil society: Alenka Goljevšček, Jože Pučnik and

Gregor Tomc. What is interesting is that in their own articles

they do not talk so much about the civil society, but mainly

about the (political) system, which was supposed to enable

the functioning of the civil society. It is not so much about

dreams of what the civil society is supposed to achieve or

how it is supposed to function, but mainly about dreams of

how to create the environment for its plural and effective

functioning.

All the three authors emphasize that the civil society

cannot function freely in the socialist political system. Tomc

(1987) states that “as soon as the party lets the reigns out

of its hands, white stains of the uncontrolled social life start

to appear, where suppressed autonomous particular social

interests are manifested.” Pučnik (1987) in the same context

mentions planned Lenninistic politization of the whole life,

which goes so far that it dares to arrange even the relations

between parents and children in the family in order to enable

the politics immediate regulation.

Pučnik is convinced that “the basic task of a political sy-

stem is to regulate intervention of the government to specific

fields, where more subtle differences already function and also

have to function… all the way to the solid functioning of in-

22 Has our dream come true?

dividual persons.” This can be interpreted as the making of

space so that those questions which demand that (most of

them are like that) are addressed by the civil society, and

not by the political system. Tomc is even more vivid and

solid: “Specificity of the present conditions is in the fact that

neither the defined area of state, nor the defined area of

social functioning exists. In those conditions we pretend that

we represent the interests of the civil society…, indistinctive po-

litical elite stands the opposite of us, and helplessly observes the happening.”

According to Pučnik, the civil society should be subordinate

to the primate of a person. It has to enable self-construction

(autopoiesis) to an individual when he is around other peo-

ple. For him only the primate of the person is the one who

makes it possible for us to talk about constructs, such as

culture, civil society, political system, law, science, etc.

Pučnik sees political system as a system of arranging people

according to their difference. “The arranging is happening

due to the lack of information about mutual relations among

individuals and specificity of each of them.” He speaks about the absurdity of a pragmatic demand. He insists that “this violent arranging is valid for several million different people at the same time.”

The only hope he sees for a development of the civil

society is in political pluralism: “The elite cannot (in case of

democratic elections) usurp the power anymore, for it was only

lent to it for a short mandatory period of time. The parties have

to continually answer for their use (and abuse) of this equiva-

lent and its amount in the democratic public and in the next

elections.” He does not think that political pluralism eliminates abuses, but it definitely diminishes it.

1.6. Dreams - Means or an End?

Slovenian dreams flourished most during the crisis of the

1980s, when the seemingly solid Yugoslavia started to fall

apart. Intellectuals were the first ones to build their dreams

Has our dream come true? 23

mainly on the consciousness of sovereignty of the Slovene

nation, but later most of the population was fascinated by

the idea about its own country Slovenia.

This realizable and visionary ‘big goal’ about the independent

country also had negative consequences. When it was final y

fulfilled in 1992 with the acceptance of the Organization of

the United Nations, it left some sort of emptiness behind.

The only goal for which there was a solid consensus on the

national level was the entrance into the European commu-

nity (2004), and it seems that the emptiness has amplified

after this goal was fulfilled.

Dreams of the independent country Slovenia are worth

something only when they represent a means to achieve

higher values. Dreams in the real sense cannot be expressed

by a solid vision or goal. They can only be expressed by (never

completely achievable) universal values, such as respect for

human dignity, political pluralism and religious freedom.

Nejc Zaplotnik, perhaps the most quoted Slovene alpinist,

wrote in his book titled ‘A Way’: “If you are looking for a goal,

you shall be left empty when you find it. If you find the way, you

shall always carry the goal inside you.”

There were many social groups in Slovenia, which were looking

for a way, thus dreaming universal values, but they saw their

own country mainly as a means for an easier realization of

these dreams. The question left is how these dreams about

the nation’s own country were seen by most of the popu-

lation.

The unbelievable power of the goal about the nation’s own country

was probably diminishing the amount of discussions about what to

do with your own country later on. And it seems as if the Slovenes still did not find a basic consensus on the level of the basic values. That

kind of environment represented great humus for stories for the next

20 years: for the stories about the unjust privatization of the state

assets, still not investigated crimes from the epoch after the Second

World War, villainous political conflicts and finally social apathy.

24 Has our dream come true?

1.7. Conclusion

The authors of the Slovenian dreams were working mainly

on the political system. Beside a clear and in the end by

everyone accepted goal about the nation’s independence,

the ideas about political pluralism, free economy and

freedom of decision-making were prevailing on the level

of values. In the 80s, where any ‘daring idea’ could still be

punished, there were certainly the most urgent, right and

also exceptionally far-reaching thoughts.

On the other hand, we notice that after 20 years even the

constitutionally assured political pluralism, market economy

and freedom of thought do not make the life of the citizens

better if these do not take responsibility for their decisions

(or non-decisions).

With this scruple, dreams of the political system seem

only partial. They need to be balanced with dreams of the

responsibility of the citizens as individuals, and with a

search for the answer how to empower the individual so

that he will know how and wish to fully function in the

democratic system after his experience of the totalitarian

regime. Barely anyone discussed this question at the end of

the 80s.

Has our dream come true? 25

2. Civil Society in Slovenia:

A Failure of a Democratic Ideal

2. 1. Introduction

Civil society is one of the crucial democratic arenas that

allow the citizens of a particular country to make informed

and democratic decisions within a political community

of equals. Scholars and practitioners of democracy and

civil society have often argued that the level of a country

democratic development can in fact be measured by the

degree of development of its civil society. And vice versa: It

has been argued that a high level of a country’s democracy

represents a reliable measure of a success of civil society.

Slovenia has been one of the success countries in terms

of democratization and market liberalization. In the years

during and after the transition to democracy, Slovenia

often reached the highest yearly GDPPC in the post-com-

munist region (Eurostat). More importantly, Slovenia has

scored high on several measures of political and democratic

development. One would therefore expect for Slovenian

civil society to be at least as developed as in an average civil

society in Central Europe country.

Curiously, Slovenian civil society is one of the least developed

of the entire post-communist region. According to the USA-

ID data of 2009 and the NGO sustainability index, Slovenia

scored last among the ten countries that joined the EU in

2004. What is more, in 2008 Slovenia achieved a lower score

on the NGO sustainability index than Bulgaria, Romania

and the countries of the Western Balkans such as Albania,

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Macedonia. Only

Serbia and Monte Negro scored lower than Slovenia.

What factors explain this outstanding weakness of civil society

in Slovenia? Does the early departure of international founda-

tions from Slovenia sufficiently explain this weakness? Was

Has our dream come true? 27

the sluggish development of Slovenian civil society influenced

by factors such as the small size of the country, or the historical

and national character of the Slovenian citizens, or even political

decisions made in the last twenty years?

In this chapter, we describe and analyze the puzzle of the

sluggish development of the Slovenian civil society in the

period from the time of the transition to democracy until

the present day. The chapter shows that while in the past

twenty years Slovenia has experienced crucial democratic

changes, its civil society has improved modestly at best.

In order to support this descriptive claim and to find the

main factors that have lead to such a puzzling outcome, this

chapter relies on current literature and secondary data

covering the various aspects of the Slovenian civil society. First it

provides a historical context of civil society in Slovenia. Then

it provides specific data on different sectors of Slovenian

civil society and finally, it describes the main attitudes of the

citizenry towards civil society. The chapter also discusses

the role of civil society in major decision-making processes.

2. 2. Historical Context

Slovenian society has a long and extensive tradition of

associating according to the interests and the self-organi-

zation of people. The first civil society organizations can be

found in the early urban forms of human associating in the

medieval towns of 13th and 14th centuries (Črnak-Meglič,

Vojnovič, 1997:156). In that period emerged the first craft-

-guilds, religious charity organizations, and funds. In the

later periods, the Catholic Church played an important and

primary role in the development of charity and social activities.

The Church was not only as religious but also as social institution

and it represented a strong political force in the Slovenian

life.

In the first half of the 19th Century emerged the first labour

movements. While they were soon prohibited or restricted

28 Has our dream come true?

in their action by the later regime, the bourgeois revolution

of 1848 brought freedom of association. The freedom of

association was introduced as a classical constitutional



right and legal norms, which regulated the foundation of

associations and other forms of association of people on the

basis of common interests. Being a part of the Austro-Hun-

garian monarchy, Slovenians had no legislation of their own

(Črnak-Meglič, Vojnovič, 1997:156). However, despite the

fact that the majority of Slovenians were peasants and

workers and while the leading classes mostly consisted

of foreigners, several movements emerged aiming at the

national awakening. The most important forms of association

were reading rooms, i.e., meeting places of the upper

strata, and camps, i.e., a form of mass meeting of people

outdoors. Especially in the late 19th Century, national defence

associations became important as well, along with expert

and professional associations (Črnak-Meglič, 2000:132).

Third sector organizations had an important economic

function. At the end of the 19th Century, the emerging

system of co-operative societies ramified into a mass



social movement. This movement came about as an expression

of the defence mechanism of farmers, workers and craftsmen

against the growing capitalism (Črnak-Meglič, Vojnovič,

1997:158). Their initiator, Janez Evangelist Krek, greatly

contributed to their development in both his written works

and practical social action. Almost in every small town, a

peasant or craftsmen cooperative was set up on the principle

of self-support and self-organization. Savings and loan

associations were also established on the same principles.

In smaller number also technical, stockbreeding, dairy,

cheese making, wine production and purchase-and-sel-

ling co-operatives emerged. Housing, production and loan

co-operatives were founded to help the working class.

(Hvalič, Ramovš, Ramovš, 2002). By the time of the interwar

period, the civil society encompassed an extensive network

of ideologically plural associations, co-operatives, charity

organizations, trade unions, and professional organizations.

Has our dream come true? 29

The end of the World War II and the arrival of the socialist

social system broke up with the tradition of a strong and

developed third sector. To a great extent, the functions of

the third sector were taken over by the public sector (Črnak-

-Meglič, 2000). In the socialist times, the work of third sector

organizations presented a danger to men in power. As a

consequence, the third sector became restricted to a local

level functioning and for the purposes of particular profes-

sions (firemen, mountaineers...). While some organizations

did enjoy the state support (e.g., the Red Cross, The Associa-

tion of the Friends of Youth, The Association of Pensioners),

numerous activities were transferred to the so-called socio-

-political organizations. In other words, most of associations

came under the state control or were included into the public

sector. Moreover, the work of religious organizations was

prohibited or restricted to exclusively religious affairs, their

charity and other organizations and their property being

nationalised. (Hvalič, Ramovš, Ramovš, 2002).

The year 1974 marks the beginning of a new era in the

development of the third sector. The new Constitution and

new Societies Act opened and promoted the foundation of

third sector organizations. While these organizations remained

small and constrained in their numbers due to scant finan-

cial support from the state, the third sector witnessed a cer-

tain development of self-support groups, groups for mutual help,

and alternative groups. These groups emerged in areas where

such services were not provided by the state. However, the-

se new social movements in Slovenia were not ‘grassroots’

movements as they were not mass based (Črnak-Meglič,

2000).

After 1980, numerous social movements emerged, focusing

on the broader questions of peace, ecology, human rights

protection, and even spirituality. Many a member of these

movements later entered the political sphere or remained

highly active at the non-governmental level. The rise in the

number of third sector organizations was in fact the most

intense in the period between 1975 and 1985. This rise was

30 Has our dream come true?

considerably greater than the one in the 1990s, following

the the change of the political system. This proves that as

early as 1970’s and 80’s, Slovenia experienced democratic

changes within the emerging civil society and the ensuing

change of attitude of the state towards the third sector.

(Kolarič in: Črnak-Meglič, 2000:137) In contrast with other

transitional countries, the gaining of independence in 1991

did not bring Slovenia a mass emergence of new third sector

organizations except in some fields such as sports, culture,

and social welfare. (Hvalič, Ramovš, Ramovš, 2002).

Slovenian civil society reached the peak of its success with

the introduction of significant democratic changes between

1987 and 1990. The changes resulted in a plebiscite on

independence. The independence was supported by 88.5

per cent of the voting body. While the democratic regime

change in Slovenia was a part of a larger European story that

influenced the emergence of civil society, the democrati-

zation of Slovenian civil society depended on some local

and national factors. Among these factors are the following:

•	 Slovenia had never been an autonomous and independent

state;

•	 The KulturKampf (Cultural/Civil war) during the WWII and

after the war that resulted in the total supremacy of the

Communist Party;

•	 The under-studied and under-publicized mass killings

following the WWII;

•	 The relative well-being and apparent freedom in the

1980s;

•	 The challenge of the rising Serb nationalism at the end

of the 1980s.

Slovenian civil society in the early 1990s did not enjoy

the same heyday as did the other post-communist co-

untries. One of potential factors explaining this immediate

weakness of Slovenian civil society was the economic crisis.

This crisis emerged as a result of the many international sanc-

Has our dream come true? 31

tion against different Yugoslav markets and the ensuing

Balkan wars. The consequences of this crisis were stron-

gly felt in Slovenia up until 1995. The government was

therefore more concerned with salvaging the economy

than with promoting the development of civil society.

While in the last 20 years the numbers of organized mem-

bership and the NGOs has been steadily increasing, the Slo-

venian civil society remains weak. While we present this we-

akness in detail in the following chapters, we can summarize

the main weaknesses as they follow.

•	 Many of the newly founded NGOs are not functioning, let

alone being active.

•	 Also, the NGOs enjoy only a weak financial support of the

state.

•	 Foreign donors left the country soon after the independence.

•	 Financial support of the citizenry remains week as

well. Even in 2008, the citizens of Slovenia were able to

contribute up to 0.5 per cent of their income for civil society.

•	 Furthermore, Slovenian NGOs rarely work together

on common projects (Hvalič, Ramovš, Ramovš, 2002).

Regional or project-based NGO networks rarely come into

existence.

•	 Such networks – even if they exist - are often not a result

of bottom-up process from the NGOs themselves but

come about as a consequence of state/EU invitation. For

example, in 2000/01 emerged the currently leading network

of Slovenian NGOs called the CNVOS. The CNOVS came

about as a result of the initiatives from the Government

Office for Development and European Affairs.

•	 Final y, despite these EU and state initiatives, Slovenian

politics does not seem to understand the NGOs as

serious partners in the social and civil dialogue. The

main and a rare improvement of this dialogue came

about with the Slovenian accession to the EU in 2004

and Slovenian Presidency of the EU Council in 2008.

The 2008 experience of a dialogue between the NGOs

32 Has our dream come true?

and the state and, in particular, the advocacy function

of the civil society will be discussed later in this chapter.

2. 3. Slovenian NGOs:

Their growth and State of Affaires

2. 3. 1. Legal Framework

Main forms of the organized part of Slovenian civil society

are the following: association, union of associations, private

institutes, foundations, religious institutions, cooperatives

and trade unions.

Associations are membership-based organizations. Members

pursue common interests. Associations couldn’t be established

for the purpose of generating profit, although they may

engage in economic activities that support their primary

non-profit objectives.

Foundations are grant-making, asset-based organizations

established by foreign or domestic legal entities or individuals

for charitable purposes or for the public benefit. A foundati-

on may engage in every activity that is necessary for the

advancement of its objectives as well as in activities aimed

at its promotion, which can also include economic activities.

Private institutes are non-membership organizations



established by individuals and/or domestic or foreign legal

entities. Institutes can conduct activities in the areas of

education, science, culture, sports, health, social welfare,

children’s welfare, social care, social security etc. They may

engage in economic activities to support the non-profit

objectives for which they were originally established. They

may also provide services for the public benefit if they meet

the state or local authority conditions.

Housing and other co-operatives are founded by individuals

to promote the economical benefits of their members and

are based on the voluntary association and equal cooperation

Has our dream come true? 33

and management of their members; special rules defining

the activities of the housing co-operatives stipulate that

members should use any profits for the purpose for which

the co-operative was founded.

Religious organizations are founded by individuals in

accordance with the Constitution and the Legal status of

Religious Communities.

Each of these forms is regulated by respective laws and is

handled by respective registrars. This legal framework is

additional y complicated by certain peculiarities:



•	 Student organizations, defending student rights require

mandatory membership and are regulated by separate

legal provisions;

•	 The Youth Council of Slovenia and Youth councils from local

communities are regulated by separate legal provisions;

•	 Justice and Peace Commission (within the Catholic Church) is

a non-formalized association responding to current social

debates with significant impact.

Prerequisites for founding an NGO are straightforward and

financially inexpensive. The CSI index (Verbajs, 2006)



accords the process of creating NGOs a number of two

(on a 0-3 scale). An association can be registered in a local

administrative unit if it consists of at least 3 founding members.

The decision is granted within 30 business days. It is slightly

more difficult to register a private institute, which is the

second most present form of the NGOs life in Slovenia.

However, even a process of founding a private institute is

relative simple and open; a single person can found it.

The law on associations al ows for a particular public

interest status. This status is accorded to an association if an

association is active in one or more of the fol owing spheres:

culture, education, health, social security, family politics,

human rights protection, environment protection, animal

34 Has our dream come true?

protection, sports, defence, natural disaster protection, econo-

my, agriculture, forestry, veterinary medicine, nutrition, foreign

affairs, and development of democracy. The status can

be accorded to other associations as well, if their activity

transcends the interests of their members and leads to common

good. The public interest status is granted by a proper state

ministry. This status can help an association with achieving

up to 20 additional percent points when its projects are evaluated

in state-funded grants. The process of acquiring this status

at a competent ministry can be a lengthy and demanding

procedure. For example, the Slovenian Scout Organization

enjoys a particularly high number of members on both

national and local levels and a widely recognized reputation

for their positive contribution to the public good. Yet, it took

this organization from March 2003 to June 2005 for their

status to be recognized by the Ministry of Education and Sport.

2. 3. 2. Number of NGOs

The number of NGOs in Slovenia is constantly growing.

Among the various forms of NGOs, the most widely present

are associations (about 80 percent). Associations were to a

certain extent al owed with a low of 1974. The 1974 legislation

provision from the socialist times introduced a high level of

liberalization in terms of rights to associate. It is therefore

not surprising that with the democratization and Slovenian

independence the number of association did not rocket but

continued to steadily increase.

Has our dream come true? 35

Associations / Year 1965 1975 1976 1980 1985 1990

1995

2007 2010

Sports and

2691 2976

4448

6781 7767

Recreation

Associations for

helping others

2856 2870

2756

2664 2819

Culture and Arts

1068 1141

1509

2797 3228

Research,

educational and

1102

671

1764

1809 2078

vocational

associations

Environment

protection,

Breeding and care

516

492

555

1458 1571

of animals and

plants

Associations of

547

548

609

1300 1442

professionals

Local

community

development

273

314

446

1236 1396

associations

National, political

and human-rights

9

7

9

218

311

associations

Spiritual life

318

455

Other associations

957

1017

1888

594

561

No data

507

Total

6919 6761 7965 8446 10098 10320 13984 19682 21628

Table 1: Number of registered associations in Slovenia according to activity type (Kolarič, Črnak - Meglič, Vojnovič, 2002), (Ajpes, 2010)

36 Has our dream come true?



Number of associations

NGOs other than association are significantly less frequent

in Slovenia. Among these, the most numerous are trade

unions. Their number however is about ten times smaller

than the number of associations.

The growth rate of institutes was steady, particularly in the

period from 1998 to 2006. Foundations also experienced a

steady growth, except for a period of stronger growth bet-

ween 1999 and 2000.

1998

1999 2000

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

2006

Foundation

370

432

507

565

663

741

863 1006

1162

Trade Union

2808

3382 3606

3708 3823 3749 3685 3716

3677

Institute

44

69

104

124

141

155

162

170

184

Total

3222

3883 4217

4397 4627 4645 4710 4892

5023

Table 2: Number of institutions, trade unions and institutes in Slovenia (Statistični urad RS, 2009)

Has our dream come true? 37



Number of private institutes, trade unions and

foundations in the period from 1998 to 2006

Figure 2: Number of institutions, trade unions and institutes in Slovenia (Statistični urad RS, 2009)

(PRIVATE) INSTITUTES

The 1991 law on institutes enables domestic and foreign

individuals and corporations to found an institution. From

a legal perspective, institutions broaden the sphere of civil

society. They transcend the scope boundaries of member-

ship-based organizations (i.e. of associations). The law on

private institutes allows the institutions to perform public

service. Private institutes can take over or perform activities

of public service.

After 2000, strong tendency emerged to abrogate private

institutes and transfer the activities of this kind to compa-

nies (Mladina 2002). According to Jalušič (2002), such an

intervention would have represented the end of numero-

us independent NGOs. The abrogation tendencies never

materialized but it pointed to a certain attitude of the state

towards civil society. Another peculiarity related to private

institutes is the fact that some institutes operate as busi-

nesses and cannot be considered as NGOs or as civil society

organizations.

38 Has our dream come true?

TRADE UNIONS

Slovenian trade unions have to a large extent succeeded

the trade unions from before the 1990s. In the pre-1990s

era, the social dialogue in Slovenia relied mainly on socialist

grounds. In such socialist environment, membership in

trade unions was self-evident to some and obligatory

to others. In the 1990s, the role of trade unions began to

change. However, the trade unions established before 1990

retained their monopoly. Several trade union leaders from

before the 1990s kept their position or acquired important

positions in politics. Only recently, in the time of the latest

financial and economic crisis, have workers started to seek

their rights by circumventing the trade unions and their

monopoly.

COMPARING GROWTHS OF MEMBER-BASED AND

NON-MEMBER-BASED ORGANIZATIONS

Analyzing the participation of citizens in civil society, one

notices that the difference in growth between member-ba-

sed and non-member based organizations. Organizations,

which are not based on organizational membership, grow

faster than member-based organizations. While the for-

mer are less numerous, they grow faster than the latter. For

example, the association growth index from 1995 to 2007

reached 141 percent, and the trade union growth index

from 1998 to 2006 reached 131 percent. However, from

1998 to 2006, non-member NGOs such as private instituti-

ons grew by 314 percent and institutes by 418 percent.

2. 3. 3. Geographical Framework and

the Different Activity Levels

Slovenia faces a challenge of strong centralization. The GD-

PPC of the central region is significantly higher than in other

Slovenian regions. Slovenian central region is a destination

of significant migration. Ljubljana has the prestige to own

Has our dream come true? 39

the most and the major state and business headquarters.

Civil society is no exception to this centralization. 36 percent

of all non-profit organization are located in the central region.

These organizations employ 57.2 percent of all employed in

the non-profit sector and they represent 66.1% of income

among all Slovenian non-profit organizations. Causes for

the15se trends can be found in the highest development

levels of the central region. Also, the majority of national

NGOs have their headquarters in Ljubljana. Nevertheless,

many NGOs remain regionally or locally oriented. As of 2006,

the largest share of NGOs functions on the municipal level,

i.e., 36.6 percent, 22 percent on the vil age level, 20.3 percent

on the regional level, and 14.2 percent on the state level

(Kolarič, Z., Črnak-Meglič, A., Rihter, L., Boškič, R., Rakar, T., 2007).

2.3.4. Financial Framework

The share of the GDP allocated to NGOs is significantly

lower in Slovenia than in several other European countries.

In 2008, this share (for Associations, Private Institutes and

Foundations together) equalled 1.99 percent (Črnak-Meglič,

2009). This information might be an important explanation

to why Slovenian civil society is as weak as it is.

1996*

2004**

2007

Revenue from services provided (in percent)

43,8

44

53

Public grants (in percent)

27,3

27

27,34

Private donations (in percent)

28,8

29

13,64

Table 3: Income type structure of NGOs *(Kolarič, Črnak-Meglič, Vojnovič, 2002, 124)

**(Črnak - Meglič, 2008 27), (Ajpes: Poslovni izid društev in nepridobitnih organizacij, 2010), (Kolarič in ostali, 2008) 40 Has our dream come true?

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

Number

12.687

15.073

17.044

18.474

19.166 19.682 20.131

Income

in million

78.210

88.118

100.573

96.479

107.263

482

518

SIT(EUR)

(339)

(372)

(419)

(402)

(447)

Public Sources

114

123

in million EUR

Donations and

94

97

grants in

million EUR

Market

Sources in

224

245

million EUR

Other in

48

51

million EUR

Expenses

in million SIT

75.755

84.695

96.055

93.793

105.102

467

518

(EUR)

Net surplus

2.694

3.423

4.517

2.058

2.059

-11

in million SIT

(EUR)

Exchange Rate

SIT/EUR

230,27

236,69

239,74

239,58

239,64

51

Average

6,164,605 5,846,084 5,900,791 5,222,424 5,596,525

income per

(27,772 €) (24,699 €) (24,613 €) (21,799 €) (23,354 €) 24,499 25,744

NGO in SIT

(EUR)

Income as a

share of 2002

100%

79%

77%

66%

69%

69

71%

Table 4: Incomes and Expenses of Associations (Ajpes - Informacije iz letnih poročil društev, accessed on March 15 2010

http://www.ajpes.si/Letna_porocila/Drustva/Informacije?md_id_menu=132)

Has our dream come true? 41

Table 6 demonstrates a stable source of income from the public

sector. Private donations, however, have decreased for almost

30 percent in the period from 1996 to 2007; this could be in

part explained by the growth of new NGOs, who have not yet

earned trust from private donors. Finally, many NGOs have

developed their potential to generate income by offering

different services. Such a turn shows to a possible independence

of the NGO sector from the donors and a capacity to carry out

programs that the NGOs see as most responding to the needs.

The following table demonstrates more in detail the income

growth of associations between 2002 and 2008.

From 2002 to 2008, the total overall income of associations

increased by 53 percent. The average income for an association,

however, decreased by 7.3 percent. In fact, accounting for

inflation, the six-year period points to 29.9 percent decrease

in average association income. This trend points to the fact

that the major segment of the civil society faces a deteriora-

ting and alarming financial situation. For example, in 2008,

associations with the highest income (1.1. percent) receive almost

two thirds of the income of all associations (i.e., (154.068.417

EUR, cf. Črnak-Meglič, 2009). The remaining about 19,800 of

associations (98.9 percent) receive about 363.214.800 EUR, i.e.,

18.324 EUR for an association on average. Again, this situation

can be explained by the growing number of association and

by the way these organizations are co-founded by different

private and public sources (Črnak-Meglič, 2009). Slovenian

income tax relieves are particularly low. Slovenia has no deve-

lopment fund dedicated for the NGO sector. Donations, which

are usually small, contribute to higher competition and the

fragmentation of NGOs.

However, unlike associations, the average income of other

non-profit organizations (Private Institutes, Foundations, Trade

Unions and Religious Community together) has increased from

2007 to 2008 by 14 percent (cf. Table 8). Moreover, there are

important income differences between associations and



institutes. The average income for Private institute equaled

145,000 EUR, while the average income for associations

equalled 21.000 EUR.

42 Has our dream come true?

2007

Number of Number of Income Total

Expense Total

Surplus

Employees

Organisat. (in 1,000 EUR)) ( in 1,000 EUR) (in 1,000

EUR)

Fundation

80

171

30,244

28,842

1,384

Trade Union

240

3168

49,755

45,545

4,107

Religious

Community

Other Forms

333

188

68,269

65,586

2,529

TOTAL

3252

4757

319,789

305,866

12,207

2008

Number of Number of Income Total Expense Total

Surplus

Employees Organisat. (in 1,000 EUR) ( in 1,000 EUR)

(in 1,000

EUR)

Fundation

96

176

38,353

37,148

1,171

Trade Union

230

3143

49,300

46,296

2,845

Religious

2

27

2,425

2,138

287

Community

Other Forms

330

223

68,361

67,214

803

TOTAL

3488

4936

356,679

348,133

6,927

Table 5a and 5b: Yearly Reports from non-profit organizations (Ajpes, 2010)

Has our dream come true? 43

As private institutes grow in strength, they also shift the

balance from membership organizations to non-member-

ship-based organizations. While one may conclude that

associations struggle financially more than institutes, it has

to be noted that many institutes function as businesses (see

above) and for their own interests.

Moreover, although NGOs substantially rely on public



funds, they claim to be completely independent from the

government and political life. Yet, in order to get public

grants, NGOs need to apply for numerous proposals and

therefore comply to the directives related to a proposal. For that

reason, they often cannot answer the needs of their benefi-

ciaries. What is more, NGOs claim that despite fulfilling the

mission given by grant proposal, they cannot participate in

decision-making processes (Divjak, 2006). While the state

guaranties the right for the NGOs to participate in decision

making, a legitimate question arises regarding the need

of explicit state support for the NGOs in decision-making.

Since so many NGOs face significant financial challenges

one wonders how effective the NGOs can be in decision-

-making if much of their energy is spent in grant seeking.

The financial independence from the state in that sense

represents an additional burden for the NGOs, particularly

for the newer or smaller ones. The roots to the financial

challenges of NGOs often stem from Slovenian tax legislation.

CIVIL SOCIETY AND TAX LEGISLATION

According to the CSI (Berdajs, 2006), Slovenian tax legislati-

on is not favorable to civil society. Legislation, for example,

does not make distinctions in terms of tax relief between

profitable NGOs and businesses. However, since 2006, a

special law does allow NGOs to seek income from income tax

of natural (non-corporate) persons. A citizen has the right to

assign 0.5 percent of her income tax for activities that support

public good, religious communities, political parties, or trade

unions. In 2007, 20.8 percent of citizens donated the 0.5 per-

cent of their income tax to NGOs, yielding 2.7 million Euros.

44 Has our dream come true?

In 2008, the percentage of these citizens grew to 24.9 per-

cent. This confirms our previous claim that Slovenian citizens

actually are willing to support NGOs without necessarily

being a member of and NGO. However, this type of income

represents a very small contribution to NGOs. And, most of

this contribution goes to well-know and widely-recognized

organizations only, while other NGOs remain dependent on

public financing.

ACQUIRING PUBLIC FUNDS

Successfully applying for public funds is a demanding and

difficult task for Slovenian NGOs. In order to analyze this

difficulty, we need to look at the different sources of public

funds. These are European, national, and local funds.

European funds usually require international cooperation

and Slovenian NGOs are poorly present in international

NGO networks. Moreover, since Slovenian NGOs are in ave-

rage small, they find the competition with the NGOs from

other countries more challenging. Furthermore, because

of low national funding it is often difficult for them to find

co-financing that is usually required in EU projects. Finally,

several European programs are more ‘user friendly,’ but this

is normally connected with lower financial support.

National funds are usually granted by a certain ministry.

However, since some ministries do not offer any funding,

we can expect that NGOs with certain type of activities or

end-populations wil be less likely to find grants. This challenge

is also related to the fact that while some ministries started to

support NGOs immediately after the independence, other

ministries followed the suit much later. What is more, the

shares of public sponsorship are relatively low and they are

not consistent on a year to year basis. Public funds are only

available for specific projects. Moreover, calls for proposals

are often open to public institutes, which enjoy a secure and

stable financing from the state, and have thus an important

comparative advantage in applying for grants. Finally, since

many of the state funds for NGOs rely on European funds,

Has our dream come true? 45

the payments are often delayed due to bureaucratic issu-

es. In some cases, NGOs went bankrupt because of delayed

payments.

Local funds for NGOs are usually extremely low. In some ca-

ses, municipal offices accorded grants that did not exceed

the costs of grant application. Moreover, Slovenia has not

yet introduced a regional distribution of funds.

Finally, the way of distributing funds to NGOs on a local

level is often disconnected with the policies and plans

of a municipality. For that reason, NGOs may enjoy



significant freedom in carrying out their programs but

no particular role in the processes of decision making.

INVENTORY

Slovenian NGOs are poorly accoutred in terms of spa-

ce and office equipment. Only 13.2 percent of NGOs own

their offices, 28 percent rent their offices and more than

a third uses office space of another organization (Div-

jak 2006). Better off are those NGOs which existed before

the regime change. Most of them own their own office

space, mainly in Ljubljana. Only 30.4 percent of NGOs

own a computer. Office equipment is additionally hard to

acquire since many grants do not allow for financing it.

2. 3. 5. Employment in NGOs

Employment in the non-governmental sector represents

one of the most significant indicators of the development

of civil society. The data below show that while the number

of non-profit organizations except associations has increased

from 2007 to 2008 by 3.8 percent, the number of employees

in these organizations has increased by 7.3 percent.

Data for the 1990s are difficult to obtain, except in regards

to associations (Kolarič, Črnak - Meglič, Vojnovič, 2002). In

1996, the associations altogether employed 2,930 people,

i.e., 0.4 percent of all employed in Slovenia. In 2008, the

number of employed in associations totalled 5,769 people,

46 Has our dream come true?

2008

2007

N. of

N. of

N. of

N. of

employees

organizations

employees

organizations

Private Instit.

2830

1367

2599

1230

Institute

96

176

80

171

Trade

230

3143

240

3168

Union

Religious

community

2

27

Other

330

223

333

188

forms

TOTAL

3488

4936

3252

4757

Table 6: Employment in non-profit organizations (Ajpes, 2009)

i.e. 0.54 percent of the working force (Črnak-Meglič, 2009,

23).

If we count both data for 2008 together, we get the number

of 9,257 employed i.e. 0,87 percent of the working force in

the whole NGO sector. Comparing to Western Europe, this

share is minuscule and highly related to the financial situation

of the non-governmental sector. What is more, in 2004,

80.6 percent of NGOs had no employees. Also, since 1996,

the share of NGOs that have few or no people employed

has grown strongly.

It may be inferred that since the NGO sector faces significant

financial and employment challenges, the available and

competent NGO work force may be more reluctant to seek

jobs in the NGO sector.

Has our dream come true? 47

2. 3. 6. Volunteers

The work of the volunteers and the work of those employed

by an NGO are complementary. A survey has shown

that in 2004, volunteers worked on average 149 hours

within an organization. The total number of volunteer hours

in 2004 equalled 1,239,756 hours, i.e., hours for 7,124 full

time employees. That represents 126 percent of work that is

carried out by those employed and paid by NGOs (Kolarič,Z.,

Črnak-Meglič, A., Rihter, L., Boškič, R., Rakar, T., 2007).

2.3.7. Training

In recent years, those who work for an NGO (either employed

or volunteers) receive an increasingly more training. Almost

two thirds of NGOs (62.7 percent) have in 2004 received

some form of training related to their work and mission

(Kolarič, Z., Črnak-Meglic, A., Rihter, L., Boškic, R., Rakar, T.,

2007). This share is lower for trainings aimed at organizational,

financial and administrative part of their functioning. 24.4

percent of NGOs participated in know-how trainings (foreign

language, computer skills, accountancy and legislation).

17.7 percent of NGOs participated in trainings aimed at

project proposal preparation. 17 percent of them received

training in business. Much fewer organizations participated

in project-leadership trainings (11.4 percent), or in human

resources training (13.2 percent). This could be explained by

the fact that in 2004 more than 80 percent of NGOs did not

have any employees.

From 2004 onwards, the approach to education and training

of NGO personnel has improved. There is more available

training for leadership, finance, and other infrastructural

skills needed in an NGO. First grounds for this kind of trai-

ning were offered by National Youth Council of Slovenia in

2003. This organization was the first one to offer training for

future instructors in youth organizations.

In 2008, Slovenian NGOs became eligible for the first time

48 Has our dream come true?

to access the means available in European Structural Funds

that support the development of the NGO sector. Projects

that were financed from these funds enabled a strong deve-

lopment of training in the area of strategic planning, project

leadership, legal counselling, and project counselling (2008

NGO Sustainability index, 2009).

From 2008, there are 10 regional centres of NGOs, which

are co-sponsored by the Ministry for Public Administration

and the European social found. These centres offer short

trainings in the area of leadership, financing, NGO promotion.

2.4. Relationship of the Citizens

towards Civil Society

The attitudes of the citizenry towards Slovenian civil society

are complex and poorly understood. One of the reasons

contributing to the poor understanding of this relationship

is the inconsistent data about the activities of Slovenians in

the civil sphere. As this section of our chapter presents the

crucial civil society data for Slovenia, we need to take into

account that the different data rely on different definitions of

civil society and of different activities within the civil sphere.

The various questionnaires are difficult to compare since they

rely on different analytical and methodological frameworks.

2.4.1. Social Participation of Citizens

The European Value Study of 1999/2000 provides the

following data about the participation in civil society

organizations (Table 7. Membership and active membership).

The data show (see the line ‘none’) that about 48 per cent

of the interviewees belonged to a civil society organiza-

tion and that about 26 per cent were actively involved

in civil society. The most popular civil society organizations

are related to sports and recreation, trade unions and educa-

tion, arts, music or cultural activities. The data also reveal a

Has our dream come true? 49

significant difference in ratios between active and non-active

membership according to different groups: 50 per cent of

the members of sports and recreation organizations are

active members, and only 25 percent of the members of trade

unions are active. While the data may be skewed due to

the answers of non-members, the ratio does indicate a higher

active membership in sports than in trade unions. The

highest ratio of active membership per all members enjoy

the category of the service to the elderly, poor, and disabled

(85 percent) and the category for environmental protection

and animal rights movements (78 percent). The lowest ratio

of active membership is found in the trade unions (25 per-

cent) and political parties or groups (47 percent).

The 2005 Civil Society Survey (Verbajs, 2006) shows slightly

different results. The data show that 55 percent of Slovenians

belong to an organization. The most popular form of membership

are trade unions, followed by the unions of peasants and

fishermen (a category that is omitted in the European Value

Study), fol owed by sports association. The data differ significantly

in regards to voluntarism: in civil society organizations only

12 percent are active on a voluntary (non paid) basis while

outside them more than half of the people (52%) are active

as volunteers. However, this last data has been put under question

also among the national advisory body of the 2005 Civil

Society Survey itself.

Another research, Study of Volunteering in the EU,



Country Report Slovenia (2009) shows that according to

the Ministry of Education and Sport, the number of volunteers

ranges between 280,000 and 350,000 (i.e., 14-18 percent of

the population). A study carried out by Slovenska Filantropija

points to a lower overall volunteer membership: 182,128

volunteers in 3,226 organizations and 897 in 39 public institutions

The Study of Volunteering in the EU also shows that men

participate more as volunteers than women do, and the

study explains that by pointing out the importance of sport

associations.

50 Has our dream come true?

Do you belong

Do you work

to…?(%)

unpaid

for…?(%)

Social welfare services for elderly, handicapped

or deprived people

7.7

5.9

Religious or church organisations

9.5

5.4

Education, arts, music or cultural activities

12.5

7.6

Trade unions

13.4

3.4

Political parties or groups

3.9

1.9

Local community action on issues like poverty,

employment, housing, racial equality

2.0

1.7

Third world development or human rights

1.9

1.2

Conservation, the environment, ecology,

animal rights

5.4

4.2

Professional association

7.2

4.0

Youth work (e.g. scouts, guides, youth clubs

etc.)

5.6

4.2

Sports or recreation

20.3

10.2

Women groups

4.0

2.4

Peace movement

1.1

0.7

None

51.6

74.4

Table 7: Membership and active membership in civil society organizations in Slovenia (European Values Study, 2008)

Has our dream come true? 51

There are important differences in data regarding the

number of work hours volunteers spend in an organization.

The 2008 research by Slovenska Filantropija shows

that in 2008 the volunteers carried out about 14 mil ion

hours of volunteer work. Other data however point to a

number ranging from 1.2 to 1.3 million hours. The 2005

Civil Society Survey shows that 61 percent of the volun-

teers dedicate on average about four hours a month of

their time to volunteerism. The most popular forms of

volunteer work are shopping, child care, instructions/teaching

and technical assistance (Civil Society Survey 2005).



According to the Study of Volunteering in the EU, the most

important motives for volunteer work are the following:

•	 spiritual and personal growth,

•	 acquisition of knowledge, skills and experiences,

•	 desire to do useful work (sense of achievement) and help

others,

•	 socialising and extending one’s social network (sense of

belonging),

•	 reputation (good public image),

•	 expectation of improved self-image and personal satisfaction

and

•	 confidence in one’s own abilities, understanding of perso-

nal feelings and actions, and giving sense to life.

Civil participation goes well beyond organized member-

ship and volunteerism and includes the following forms.

The 2005 Civil Society Survey found that up to that year

about 13.7 percent of Slovenians had written a letter to the

editor. 35.5 percent had signed a petition and 13.4 percent

had been involved in protests or political demonstrations.

46 percent of the respondents have used at least one of the

forms of participation just mentioned. However, we may

add that some members of the National Advisory Group

conducting the 2005 Civil Society Survey expressed doubts

in the results. They claimed that these forms of participation

52 Has our dream come true?

may not be as developed as shown by the survey.

The 2008 European Value Study provides slightly different

data. A petition has been signed by 33.6%, a boycott was

joined by 7.2% and legal demonstrations 12.7 percent. 3.4

percent of the respondents participated in unannounced

protests and 0.8 percent of the respondents at one point

participated in taking over a factory or a building.

Participation in charitable movements and organizations

shows the following picture. According to the 2005 Civil

Society Survey, 66% of respondents donated money, food,

or other goods for charitable purposes in the 12 months

preceding the survey. Most of the donors are women and

these donors come from urban areas. The income level does

not seem to influence charity contributions.

Our descriptive analysis has so far acknowledged that social

participation takes several forms. Organizational member-

ship as a traditional form of social participation is relatively

easy to measure. However, the raw data do not reveal much

as such since different types of organizations reflect diffe-

rent ratios between active and passive members.

Moreover, while the typical advocacy forms of civil society such

as peace movements and human rights associations enjoy

low levels of membership, the majority of their members

prove to be highly active, including in the media. Finally, many

advocacy organizations provide services other than advocacy.

Yet, the kinds of work mostly performed by the volunteers (as

shown in the data) are not directly connected to advocacy.

2.4.2. Disbelief in the Power of Col ective

Decision-Making

The level of disbelief in the power of col ective decision

-making is reflected in the (mis)trust of the citizenry in different

institutions (Toš, 2007). According to the surveys measuring

the trust in twenty different institutions, the two most visible

institutions of civic decision-making enjoy the least trust,

i.e. political parties and the parliament. The best scores achieve

Has our dream come true? 53

private institutions and the state institutions for wellbeing:

1. family, 2. schools, 3. Slovenian currency at the time, 4.

banks. Among the institutions of the civil sphere, the trade

unions deserve the citizens’ trust (8th place), media (10th)

and the Church and clergy (18th). While among the civil

society institutions only the trade unions make it among

the first ten, it has to be acknowledged that the survey took

into consideration only the above-mentioned civil society

institutions as significant.

The low trust in the power of collective decision-making

was confirmed by a parallel study measuring values (Toš,

2007/2). Among six possible values (family, friends, work,

leisure, religion, and politics) the politics scores at the rear

end. Moreover, if one has to decide between freedom or

safety, only 30 percent of respondents opt for safety.

And if asked what achievements are Slovenians most proud

of, the collective decision-making scores seventh out of

nine. More than freedom or politics, Slovenians pride themselves

on the independence, success in sport, history, culture, and

democracy. Only social security and tolerance score lower

then collective decision-making.

The reasons behind the low levels of collective decision-making

may be found in the issues for which Slovenians show

much interest. For example, according to a 2009 Eurobaro-

meter survey, comparing to other EU members, Slovenians

are more interested in the issues of unemployment (EU27:

51%, Slovenia: 56%) and the state of the economy (EU27:

40%, Slovenia: 52%). Slovenians are less interested in global

issues such as migration (EU27: 9%, Slovenia: 1%), terrorism

(EU27: 4%, Slovenia: 0%), environment (EU27: 4%, Slovenia:

2%) and energy provision/dependence (EU27: 2%, Slovenia:

1%). The results show a stronger interest according to other

EU citizens in local and private matters and lower interest

according to other EU citizens to global and public issues. We

could also say that Slovenians are more concerned about

their personal safety than other EU citizens and in a great

scale they expect the state/government to care for it. They

54 Has our dream come true?

see their state/government as responsible for taking care of

several issues (see Table 3, in Toš 2007/3).

Negative

Fully

Partly

answers or

responsible

responsible

without

answer

To ensure health care for ill people

75,6%

21,8%

2,6%

To ensure fellowships for students with

70,7%

26,0%

3,3%

lower incomes

To ensure a suitable space of leaving

for pensioners and elderly people

64,4%

31,4%

4,2%

To legally prevent the damage caused

63,1%

30,2%

6,7%

in the environment by industry

To help industry to ensure

its development

48,1%

43,7%

8,2%

To ensure a suitable place of leaving

42,9%

48,9%

8,2%

for those who can’t afford it by them-

selves

To lower differences between the rich

and the poor

53,4%

36,2%

10,4%

To ensure a working place for

46,9%

40,5%

12,6%

everybody who wants to work

To control the prices

47,4%

36,5%

16,1%

To ensure a suitable standard of lea-

25,5%

55,3%

19,2%

ving for unemployed

Table 8: Slovenians’ responses to the question: ‘What for should the state in Slovenia be responsible for?’

(Toš, 2007/3)

Has our dream come true? 55

Slovenians don’t only seem to shift their burdens from themsel-

ves onto the state but also from the state onto the others.

Table 9 presents insightful information stemming from the

question: ‘In your opinion, which of the following is best able

to take effective actions against the effects of the financial

and economic crisis?’ (Eurobarometer, Fall 2009)

EU27

Slovenia

The European Union

22%

20%

The Slovene government

19%

12%

The G20

18%

20%

The United States

12%

16%

The International Monetary Fund (IMF)

11%

16%

Table 9: Slovenians’ responses to the question: ‘ In your opinion, which of the following is best able to take effective actions against the effects of the financial and economic crisis? ’

(Eurobarometer, Fall 2009)

The institutions in which Slovenians have direct repre-

sentatives (national government and the EU) receive less

credibility from the Slovenians (than form the EU27 average).

The institutions on which Slovenians can exercise almost

no influence deserve more credit in terms of salvaging the

economic crisis.

56 Has our dream come true?

2.5. The NGO participation

in the processes of decision-making

The areas of advocacy and NGO participation in the processes

of decision-making are poorly developed. According to

the NGO Sustainability Index, Slovenia trails last in Easter

Europe and the Balkans on the scale of civil society deve-

lopment in general. The score for advocacy is particularly

low on that index. The score of 3.9, Slovenia shares the same

place as Serbia and Kosovo (2008 NGO Sustainability index,

2009). In 2004, only 0.03 percent of all NGOs were registered

as operating in the area of law and advocacy. Among these,

there were no associations (non-member organizations

only). Nevertheless, some changes for the better have

recently taken place. These changes were encouraged from

the top. A strong initiative occurred at the time of Slovenian

accession to the EU and Slovenian Presidency in 2008.

2.5.1. Pro-action of NGOs

Pro-action of NGOs towards the state and local administration

is an important and telling indicator of how strong the

advocacy function of civil society is. The strength of civil

society is actually strongly reflected in the initiatives of

the NGO sector itself. In this section we analyze if and how

NGOs offer their services to local or state governments.

A 2004 survey shows a strong sense of NGOs to take the

initiative on the local level and a weak one on the state

level. Almost half of the NGOs on a local level (48.2 percent)

offer their services occasionally and 27.8 percent frequently.

On the national level 67.8 percent of the NGOs never offer

any service, occasionally 27.8 percent and only 7.5 percent

of the NGOs offer their services on a frequent basis (Kolarič

et al 2006).

Has our dream come true? 57

2.5.2. Efforts of the Government

We estimate that the government has only in recent years

started to systematically strengthen and develop the advo-

cacy function of civil society. These governmental measures

can be classified as establishing special working bodies and

other measures. These measures have been (often uncritical y)

adopted by following different examples abroad. The transfer

and translation of these foreign models into the reality of

Slovenia has often been done directly and without sufficient

evaluation.

The following measures have been adopted on the level of

working bodies:

•	 In 2005, the government established an interdisciplinary

working group to address and harmonize the issues of

cooperation between the government and the non-go-

vernmental sector. This group contains the representatives

of the ministries and of certain governmental offices. A

state secretary for the NGO sector works in the cabinet of

the prime minister.

•	 Within the Ministry of Public Administration, a Service for

non-governmental organizations promotes the strengthening

of democratic standards.

And the following measures have been adopted on the

level of other models:

•	 Resolution about normative activities

•	 Guarantees for the civil society to participate in the processes

of decision-making

•	 A code on resolving objections against social and security

services.

In 2009, the parliament adopted resolution on normative

activities. The resolution clearly point out collaboration of

professionals and other interested public by preparing legal

58 Has our dream come true?

codes and acts. While the resolution calls for the inclusion

of several principles including expediency, transparency or

accessibility, it also gives odd recommendations. For example,

the resolution welcomes the help of the public, of civil society

and the experts outside administration. However, it states

that all these “cannot and may not perform tasks instead of

them [the administration], since they [civil society etc] are not

adequately trained nor have they sufficient insight into the state

of affairs.” (Resolucija o normativni dejavnosti, 2009) Such a statement clearly underestimates and denigrates the civil society from the part of the state. What is more, the state itself

often violates this resolution. According to web counter, the

government violated the resolution in 104 cases in the peri-

od of four months (until March 2010).

Cooperation between civil society and the government has

been increasingly put into practice. Representatives of civil

society often participate in governmental bodies shaping

various policies. The CNVOS, the main supporting and umbrel a

NGOs in Slovenia is in charge of selecting the representatives.

The civil dialogue processes such as selecting of these re-

presentatives is often financed by the state. Moreover, the

government’s standing orders require that prior to adopting

new laws and strategic documents, different bodies of public

administration need to consult the broader public and civil

society (Mežnarič, Rep, Zupan, 2008). For instance, the

Ministry of Public Affairs set forth a manual for planning,

conducting, and evaluating the processes of public partici-

pation. The manual emphasizes the importance of mutual

inclusion of both the administration and the public. Yet,

while the manual represents an important step forward in

terms of mutual cooperation, the manual proves to be long-

-winded and at times unclear.

The improving but still poor culture of dialogue can be further

developed by educating and training the public servants,

responsible for carrying out the processes of consultation and

deliberation. The purpose of this training is to enable the state

representatives to actively participate in the civil dialogue.

3) http://www.civilni-dialog.net/stevec/

Has our dream come true? 59

This training would also further implement the Resolution on

normative activities. These trainings are to be carried out in 2010.

2.5.3. Slovenian Presidency and e-democracy

At the time of Slovenian Presidency to the EU Council, a special

web portal was created to assure a fuler inclusion and participati-

on of the NGO sector during the Presidency. This was the first

time that a presiding country would establish such a portal

(Delakorda, 2007). The web portal aimed at providing the

following services:

•	 informing the NGOs about the EU and the Presidency;

•	 participation of Slovenian and European NGOs in the

processes of decision-making;

•	 communication of Slovenian NGOs with domestic and

foreign media;

•	 establishing networks between the Slovenian civil society

and European partners.

During the time of Presidency, the portal became widely

used and very active. From January 1st until July 30th, the

portal hosted eight broad discussions. These discussions

referred to the priorities of Slovenian Presidency and other

priorities that were recognized as important from the part

of the civil sector. The discussions involved 15 open cate-

gories, in which 138 articles were published. 81 of these

articles came from the NGO sector and 57 from individuals

(Delakorda, 2008). Despite the Government’s communicati-

ons bureau, the response of the government and ministries

remained minimal. There were only two articles provided by

the state, one from the Government PR Office and the other

from the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs. Both

articles were more courteous than engaging.

The internet portal experience allows for three conclusi-

ons. First, the NGO sector showed its capacity to be crea-

tive and engaging in (electronic) cooperation. Second,

60 Has our dream come true?

the share of NGOs and individuals participating in the

portal discussions was not negligible, however, only

a small part of NGO participated in the project. Poor

advertisement and the fear of the portal inefficiency might

have contributed to low participation. Third, the extremely poor

response of the state points to the general attitude of the state

towards the NGO sector. The state parties views the coopera-

tion with NGOs as an obligation rather than value added.

2.6. Conclusion and Extensions

There is no guarantee that a country with a relatively high

level of economic and political development will enjoy a

flourishing civil society. The case of Slovenia proves to the

contrary. At the time of democratic transition in the late

1980s, Slovenian civil society proved to be strong in orga-

nization, networking, and activating the populace. It had a

clear vision, was based on democratic values, and enjoyed

credibility from the part of the people. Nevertheless, twenty

years later, the decision makers still do not take civil society

as a serious and equal partner. Civil society remains margi-

nalized, its personnel and financial potential is unexplored

and poorly used. Civil society is poorly organized and poorly

interconnected. Their personnel are usually poorly trained

and inadequate.

2.6.1. Development

At the time of democratic transition, Slovenia did not experi-

ence a quick increase in institutionalized civil life. From 1974,

associational life was limited but possible as long as it did not

represent ideological threats to the communist regime. For

example, the NGO sector answered the societal needs for

association in the areas including sports, leisure, culture, and

social welfare. However, due to its ideological-threat com-

ponent, the advocacy function of civil society could not be

Has our dream come true? 61

developed. In fact, advocacy NGOs were forbidden.

The most important innovation after 1991 was a new so-

cial programme. Its starting point was the re-orientation

of the welfare state into a corporativist type. The basic

responsibility for the provision of social welfare should be

transferred from the state to the individual, for which the

state should provide appropriate possibilities. This should

reduce the significance of social insurance regulated by the

state and increase the significance of private and additional

insurances of the individuals. This introduced the principle

of subsidiarity, which is one of the basic elements of the

corporativist welfare model. (Hvalič, Ramovš, Ramovš,

2002). Services of public institutions should complement

services of the commercial and third sector (Kidrič, 1994 in:

Črnak-Meglič, 2000:126).

In the transitional period, the third sector and commercial

production of goods and services grew in Slovenia, whi-

le the public sector remained unchanged. According to

UMAR4,between 1991 and 2009, public expenditure never

dropped below 40 percent of GDP and even not below the

rate it had in 1991. In 2009, also due to the effect of financial

crisis, public expenditure even rose to 48%! The role of the

state has never weakened and the state never ceded some

of its role to the civil sector. The state has not limited the

number of employees in the public sector. On the contrary,

this number seems to be growing. Slovenia never faced the

post socialist welfare gap (Svetlik, 1992 in: Črnak-Meglič,

2000:127), characteristic of other post-socialist countries.

2.6.2. Perceptions of the Citizenry

Perceptions of the citizenry towards the civil society reflect

well the state of the NGO sector in Slovenia. The citizens in

general do not understand the concept of civil society and

are often not familiar with the activities of the NGO sector. What

is more, the citizens do not use equally well the available

opportunities provided by different NGOs. Some functions

4 http://www.umar.gov.si

62 Has our dream come true?

of the civil society are better understood than the others.

Many citizens are familiar with sports clubs. The citizens see

them as organizations providing sport activities, recreation,

and leisure. For example, a particular place is granted to

Planinska zveza Slovenije. Besides its sport dimension, the

citizens recognize in this association a national and emo-

tional component. However, when asking for these servi-

ces the citizens in general do not distinguish between the

sources of a service, i.e., provided by the state, civil society,

or the market. What matters most for them is that such a

service is available. In this sense, the citizens are able to

identify civil society by its services. The least recognized

function of the civil society is its advocacy dimension. The

citizens expect the state to solve the major political and

economic issues. The citizens do rarely understand that just

like the politicians they too have a say in decision-making.

2.6.3. Current status of NGOs

The evidence provided by this chapter has shown that despite

the crucial role of civil society in a democratic policy’s

decision-making, Slovenian NGOs face marginalization.

This marginalization comes from different direction. First,

the citizenry does not seem to understand the role of free

association and the role of civil society’s contribution to the

common good. NGOs are often seen as unnecessary, except

when they offer services that are cheaper and better from

other providers.

Second, the state does not consider the NGO sectors as an

equal partner in the civil dialogue. While legal provisions

point to the importance of civil society in civil dialogue, the

state does not take NGOs seriously, partly because of its size.

Since the Slovenian civil sector is comparatively among the

smallest in Europe, they are not considered as important.

Yet, as we have pointed out, due to the dire financial state of

the civil sector, NGOs most of the time cannot fully express

their contribution.

Has our dream come true? 63

Finally, the civil sector itself is divided. Within the NGOs

sector, organizations often prove to compete against each

other instead of collaborating with one another. Due to the

uneasy financial situation, poor management and the state

environment, NGOs often fight one another. What is more,

as a sign of unfinished democratic transition, certain NGOs

remain privileged by the government or business sectors.

They are better off and therefore more influential than the

others.

64 Has our dream come true?

3. Embeddedness of Advocacy

Organisations in Slovenia

The aim of this chapter is to analyze embeddedness of

advocacy organizations in Slovenia. It consists of six parts.

Presentation of theoretical and methodological background

is in the 3rd part followed by quantitative research analysis.

4th part brings interview analysis, 5th part deals with focus

groups analysis and conclusions are presented in the last,

6th part.

Quantitative research was implemented in June 2010 on

the target group of 800 respondents via telephone survey.

The aim of the survey was to analyse the perception of

advocacy civil society organisations (CSOs) among the general

public. Interviews were conducted between October 2010

and January 2011 with 30 representatives of CSOs. The third

part of research is the analysis of 4 focus groups with the

representatives of CSOs conducted in January 2011.

Both interviews and focus groups provide us with more insi-

ght into the situation of CSOs in Slovenia. We will analyse them

and compare the findings with the results of the quantitative

part of the research in order to make some more conclusions

about the situation of CSOs in Slovenia at the present time.

3.1. Theoretical background

However long past it has and however widely it is used,

there is no commonly agreed definition for ‘civil society’.

Moreover, there are other concepts being in use, interchan-

geably, but with slightly different content: civil sector, NGO

sector, nonprofit sector, etc. Most do not question, however,

that civil society is the arena of voluntary, unforced col ective

action around shared interests, purposes and values (Mer-

kel/Lauth 1998:7).

Has our dream come true? 65

The Centre for Civil Society, at the London School of



Economics, considers civil society as a sector on its own vis-

à-vis the three other main sectors: state, business and family:

“Civil society refers to the arena of unforced collective acti-

on around shared interests, purposes and values. In theo-

ry, its institutional forms are distinct from those of the state,

family and market, though in practice, the boundaries



between state, civil society, family and market are often

complex, blurred and negotiated. Civil society commonly



embraces a diversity of spaces, actors and institutional forms,

varying in their degree of formality, autonomy and power. Civil

societies are often populated by organizations such as registe-

red charities, development non-governmental organizations,

community groups, women’s organizations, faith-based organi-

zations, professional associations, trades unions, self-help gro-

ups, social movements, business associations, coalitions and

advocacy group.”5

In our opinion, it would be a major mistake to simplify civil

society purely to civil society organizations. In our under-

standing, civil society is the arena, outside the family, the

state, and the market, created by public oriented actions,

organizations and institutions to advance shared interests.

This broad understanding includes three potential layers of

the concept. First, civil society includes enduring organized

actors and impacts of organized interests (CSOs, local com-

munity organizations, charity, voluntary, etc. organizations).

Second, part of the civil society is not formally organized

but consists of ) temporary and loosely organised networks

and activities (campaigns, events, social actions). Third, civil

society is present on the individual level of individual enga-

gements, expressed in active citizenship, volunteering and

participation.

We believe that we can explore the nature of civil society in

our countries if we do not get stuck in the terminology problem.

According to the existing literature in our countries, there

is a wide spectrum of literature dealing with the legal, financi-

al status of NGOs, their activities are widely researched. We

5 http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/CCS/introduction/what_is_civil_society.htm 66 Has our dream come true?

believe that we do not get closer to civil society only on that

basis. This is why we – not denying the importance of the

analysis of NGOs – concentrate on the functions and the

performance of civil society in our countries.

There is a large and growing literature discussing the functi-

ons of civil society and the nonprofit sector in social sciences.

We cannot say that there is a consensus on identifying the

functions but there are definite overlappings in the different

approaches. The problem is that there is a divergence in

terms of exactly whose functions the authors are talking

about: the nonprofit sector, civil society, NGOs, the voluntary

sector, etc. However, we believe that we can summarize the

different approaches and apply them to our definition of

civil society.

If we look at the literature on the functions of civil society,

some authors (like Niemayr et al.) set up a system of functions,

identifying and sescribing several of them, others (like Sa-

lamon et al, J. Kendall, etc.) elaborate on one particular functi-

on. On our part, putting it rather simply, we find 3 major

functions of civil society: community building, service pro-

vision and advocacy.

Concerning the community building function of civil soiety,

many approaches share the opinion that participation by

local citizens in nonprofit organizations encourages social

interaction and help to create trust and reciprocity, which

leads to the generation of a sense of community (Donog-

hue 2004:8, Salamon et al. 2000:7). Community building

thereby means as well the mobilization of a community

on a certain issue (community of interest) or on the base of

locale (geographical community) (Donoghue 2004:8).

Besides the impact of volunteer participation on the indi-

vidual level, separate functions for the larger society are

served as well. Among these there are mediation ‘between

groups of individuals and the larger society , the integration

of ‘groups into that society’, the provision of ‘opportunities

for value communication’, for ‘development of community

services’, for the ‘initiation of change, and the distribution of

power’ (Kramer 1981:194).

Has our dream come true? 67

Other authors, when referring to the community building

function, mention positive impacts on both, the individual

as well as the societal level. For instance, Kendall quotes

that participation in nonprofit organizations (NPOs) “could

foster ‘personal development’, improve social relationships,

give people ‘control over their lives’ and thus make society

operate more ‘healthily.’” (Kendall 2003:113). In Hungary for

example, there are research projects that try to explore the

correlation between participation and physical health and

data show that the correlation does exist. (Kopp et al, 2008)

The popular concept of Robert Putnam, the issue of social

capital can also be included in the community biulding

function area of civil society.

In terms of the service function of of civil society organiza-

tions are targeted usually to those, usually individuals who

are unable to pay for certain services, for those who are in

need. Usual y these services fill the gaps where both the state

(government) and the market is unable to respond. (Kendall

2003: 92) They can range from tangible services (food distri-

bution, free condoms, shelter for the homeless, endangered

mothers, etc.) to intangible services (counseling, free courses,

etc.). (Jenkins 1987:297)

According to Jenkins, “every activity that focuses on chan-

ging policies or securing collective goods can be called

an advocacy function” (Jenkins 1987:297). According to

another, more detailed definition, advocacy comprises

all activities that “push for changes in government policy

or in societal conditions”, “serve a link between individuals

and the broader political process, … bring group concerns

to broader public attention and ... push for policy or broader

social change, not only on behalf of those belonging to a

group but also on behalf of the general public” (Salamon et

al. 2000:6). We have to add here that this definition includes

activities that are characteristic of pressure groups and

professional organizations, namely lobbying efforts for the

interests of a group, not the wider or general public.

Furthermore, we can split advocacy into two sub-functions

68 Has our dream come true?

called ‘policy advocacy’ and ‘citizens’ advocacy’. Policy advo-

cacy means all those activities that focus on changing policies

or securing collective goods, which are directly addressed

to “any institutional elite” (Jenkins 1987:279). Citizens’ advocacy refers to all activities that focus on changing policies

or securing collective goods, which are addressed to the

general public and aim at increasing public awareness or

mobilize individual citizens’ advocacy about certain issues.

The different activities connected to the public advocacy

function can be legislative activities, political campaign

activities, litigation, etc.. ‘Boycotts’ – convincing a critical

mass of public not getting involved in business with a

particular institution, demonstrations can be assigned to

both sub-functions.

We identified the advocacy function of Central European

civil societies as central in our research. We had two rea-

sons for chosing that.Certain theoreticians of the system

changing elite – in some countries - expected that our societies

would become ones where citizens can stand for their

rights and interests, able to organize, be active in expressing

their views and preferences, thus providing the day-to-day

basis of democracy. We argue that neither the analysis of the

service function, nor the community building function takes

us closer to exploring the fulfillment of the original dream.

Second, in the mid 1990s a growing number of literature,

on the basis of different approaches and methods came

to rather similar findings and confirmed the ‘weakness’ of

civil society in post communist societies. (see a col ection

in Howard 2003: 31-56.) They seem to share the idea that

despite the relatively high number of civil society organizati-

ons, civil society is weaker in these countries than in ‘the West’.



3.2. Methodological background

On the one hand, our societies are considered as suffering

from symptoms of low level of trust and solidarity, and the

Has our dream come true? 69

general level of social participation is described as very

poor [Howard 2003]. Consequently, there is no (vibrant) ci-

vil society in this area or its certain functions are said to be

underdeveloped or even absent. In methodological terms,

this view builds predominantly upon individual-level evi-

dence as citizens surveys etc.

On the other hand, our countries are comparatively deve-

loped in terms of the number of civil society organizati-

ons, details of their legal frameworks, richness of sectoral

divisions or the structure of financing (state versus private

donors). This empirical evidence of considerable political

engagement usually builds upon meso-structural level: it

uses organizational surveys and focuses on institutionalized

(organized) forms of activism, on their mutual interactions

and also on their exchanges with political institutions (Flam

2001; Petrova, Tarrow 2007; Císař 2008).

In our research, we were trying to precisely elaborate and

understand the extent, the structure and the nature of this

discrepancy in our countries. It is clear that there are many

advocacy CSOs and some of them are very visible, active

and also successful in their missions. And it also seems

that one of the main reasons of the relatively well develo-

ped civil society infrastructure in our countries (apart from

rapid opening of political opportunities for various political

actors) is the role of external supporters of the democra-

tic change – i.e. of foreign donors, mostly from the United

States. These considered the advocacy as the key function

to stabilize new democracies and a lot of issues could not

be represented in our societies if this external support did

not reach particular actors here – especially human rights,

transparency, environmental issues, equal opportunities,

etc. Although U.S., EU and private foundations, or state

institutions supported service providers and communi-

ty organizations as wel , they focused mainly on human rights,

advocacy, green and watchdog NGOs (Quigley, 1997;



Carothers, 1999).

Later on, as the donors supposed that after a while advocacy

70 Has our dream come true?

can stand and survive without them, most of these support

programs were ended and financing ceased to operate.

Thus, foreign donors believed that advocacy organizations

became widely accepted and socially embedded in our

societies, and that they also turned into economically self-

-sustainable actors. It seems that, however, the situation

may be less satisfying (McMahon 2001; Aksartova 2006).

Following these considerations, we turn to the general line

of our inquiry: twenty years after the series of systemic

political changes and the fall of the authoritarian regimes,

we want to explore the level and structure of the advocacy

function of our civil societies and assess the main obstacles

for its proper fulfillment. We are not interested in quantita-

tive empirical comparison of our civil societies with Anglo-

-Saxon standards or in testing hypotheses that were deve-

loped in different parts of the world; we are rather trying to

deeply explore and carefully evaluate contemporary state

of the evolution of key aspects of our civil societies functio-

ning, and confront it with original visions and expectations

of the dissent elites.

In order to be able to answer to accomplish this underta-

king, we reformulate our aims into several key questions

that we are trying to respond. First of all, and following the

issue of discrepancy between organizational and individual

level of civil advocacy, we restrict our interest into collecti-

vely organized advocacy efforts, so we focus on CSOs as the

main bearers of advocacy function in our societies. General y,

we want to find out an answer to the following question:

•	 What is the degree to which structures and actions of advocacy

CSOs are able to reflect on societal problems, to recogni-

ze, represent and channel them, in other words, to what

extent are they integrated into the society (life of citizens)?

In order to find the valid answer and deal with our research

problem comprehensively, we further specify and trans-

form it into four more focused and mutually connected

research sub-questions. The sub-questions are the fol owings:

Has our dream come true? 71

•	 How these advocacy areas become ‘embedded’? (If



citizens are involved, how are they involved and how

did they get involved? To what extent and how precisely

citizens are involved in civil advocacy activities, and what

are the main obstacles of their involvement in organized

advocacy activities?)

•	 What advocacy areas in our countries are most ‘embed-

ded’? (Where citizens are most involved? In what kind of

activities citizens are most eager to be involved?

•	 Are CSOs embedded? Which CSOs are ‘embedded’? (Are

there some common features and motives of CSOs that

integrate / don’t integrate citizens into their structures

and actions in both the least supported and the most

supported advocacy areas?)

•	 How CSOs become embedded? (How CSOs integrate

citizens into their structures and actions?)

As obvious from the above questions, the key concept of

our research is embeddedness. Embeddedness is originally

a concept applied to firms and/or individuals and expresses

that they are part of or enmeshed in a social network. The

embeddedness of economic actors, mainly companies was

analysed by Mark Granovetter (Granovetter 1985) stating

the companies do not operate only in the market but are

part of a particular social network. Putnam, in his popular

book – Bowling alone -used the concept of embeddedness

for individulals (Putnam, 2000).

In our case, we applied the concept of embeddedness to

CSOs. In our understanding, embeddedness of civil society

orgnaizations means

•	 being known, locally and/or nationwide

•	 involving people in ‘passive ways’ – donations, signing pe-

titions, etc.

•	 including people in the acivities of CSOs in activities, like

campaigns and other activities, also to the strategic planning

of the organization.

72 Has our dream come true?

In order to find answers to these questions, we used

both quantitative and qualitative research methods. In

the quantitative part, we carried out surveys (800n) via

telephone interviews, in the quantitative part we used the

focus group and interview methods.

In the survey we intended to find out in which advoca-

cy areas of citizens are the most /least involved (either

through their support, participation or organizing activi-

ties).

If we found out that citizens were somehow involved,

we asked them how are they involved and how did they

got involved to identify possible motives, channels and

mechanisms of their involvement which was later be compared

with findings in the interviews with CSOs.

We used telephone survey to map the advocacy issues

and sectors (environment, human rights, community etc.),

which people support/take part/organize most or less. The

list of advocacy areas were developed for all our countries

by listing and discussing possible areas/themes. On the

basis of the findings we elaborated a so-called ‘embedde-

dness index’ that showed which are the advocacy areas

that are most embedded in our societies.

The research section of the project included 4 focus groups

and 30 interviews. The aim of the qualitative methodology

was to get a picture of embeddedness of advocacy organi-

zations and their campaigns from the side of the collective

actors (NGOs and formally non-organized groups). In the

case of focus groups we wanted to explore their attitudes

towards embeddedness and in the case of interviews we

wanted to know empirical facts, how they relate to their

‘electorate’. These two features of qualitative methodolo-

gy are also connected by sampling strategy: focus group

technique could give us – among other things - an expert

judgement on most and least embedded advocacy CSOs

and their campaigns within the least and the most embed-

ded advocacy areas.

Has our dream come true? 73



3.3. Quantitative survey analysis

The aim of the quantitative survey was to analyse the perception

of advocacy CSOs among the general public in Slovenia.

Four goals were defined:

•	 To scan general embededness of advocacy CSOs

•	 To analyse the differences between embededness of civil

society advocacy areas

•	 To identify channels of communication and means of

involvement of citizens in civil advocacy actions and CSOs

•	 To list known and trusted advocacy CSOs.

3.3.1. General embeddedness of advocacy CSOs

General embededness of advocacy CSOs will be discussed

through analysing the share of citizens active in advocacy,

trust of citizens into the capabilities of advocacy CSOs, reasons

why respondents are not and think other people are not

active in advocacy and responsiveness or usefulness of the

CSOs are towards citizens.

According to the research, 23% of people living in Slovenia

(185 of 800 respondents) are personally active in advocacy

activities (see Figure 3). This result is comparable to other

countries participating in this research.

Are you personally active in one or more of the

above activity areas or organizations?

74 Has our dream come true?

Figure 3: Share of citizens active in advocacy in Slovenia



The following question attempts to uncover the reasons

for some people not being active in advocacy activities:

‘I will present you some of the reasons for which people

say why they are not active in civic activities. Please tell

me, which of them apply to you?’ The question was set only

to the respondents who do not declare themselves as ‘active’

(= around 77% of the population).

The main reasons for not being active in civil society are the

following: not having time (nearly 60%), not having money

to support them (around 55%) and not feeling responsible

to do so (nearly 50%). Other answers (not interested, health,

disappointment, and not believing in possibility to change)

are less frequent.

The next parameter measures the trust in civic organisati-

ons’ capability to solve concrete societal problems. It shows

that 29% of population doesn’t believe CSOs can solve problems

on the fields of 15 advocacy areas (see Section 3.3.2).

I will present to you some of the reasons, for

which people say why they are not active in civil

activities. Please tell me, which of them apply to

you? (% of ‘yes’ answers)

Has our dream come true? 75

Figure 4: Reasons why some respondents are not active in advocacy



Do you believe that civic organizations can solve

some of those previously listed problems?

Figure 5: Trust in the capabilities of advocacy CSOs

This parameter enables the comparison of this question to

one of the possible answers set in the previously analyzed

question: ‘I do not believe that civic activism could change

anything’.

If 29% of respondents believe CSOs are not able to solve

relevant problems, even a little bit more (37%) believe citizens

themselves are not able to change anything.

In the next question we ask those who do not believe that

civic organizations can solve problems (171 persons),

why they think so. We offer them several answers (see the

following chart).

Majority of respondents connect actions of CSOs to their own

financial benefits, to the interests of political parties and to

business interests. A clear pattern can be recognised from

the top 3 answers: CSO’s are seen as satellites or expositures

of bigger and stronger actors, used for their illegal or at least

non-transparent enrichment or advantage.

5 of 7 suggested answers received agreement of more than

60% of respondents. That shows a big distrust of this target

group7 into CSOs.

7) 171 of 800 respondents which means 21% of the whole target group.

76 Has our dream come true?



What do you think is the reason CSOs can not solve

any previously listed problems? (% of ‘yes’ anwsers)

Figure 6: Reasons why respondents think other people are not active Asking the question: ‘How much do you think civil organizations and their advocacy activities reflect on the

problems, needs which YOU face?’ (ranking the answers

from 1 meaning ‘not at all’ to 5 meaning ‘very much’) we got

a median of 3 and the mean of 2,73. The median indicates

indifferent perception of general public8 and the mean indi-

cates slightly negative perception.

Mean

2,73

Median

3

Table 10: How responsive/useful the CSOs are towards citizens?

8) The whole target group (800 respondents) were asked this question.

Has our dream come true? 77



The results, however, are not fully surprising if we consider

the present times, in which confidence in all institutions in

Slovenia is very low (see next question). This result might

also indicate that people do not take CSOs as their own

tools. The majority might perceive CSOs out of their perso-

nal engagement and expect them to work for them.

Trust into CSOs can be explored into more detail putting the

following question: ‘In case of having a problem, how likely is

it for you to turn to the following institutions/people?’

(answer 5 meaning very likely and 1 not at all). The results

can be seen in the following chart.

CSOs achieved higher level of trust than members of

parliament, local and national government or authority,

the media, European democratic institutions and church

communities. They achieved lower level of trust than family,

How likely / probably is it that you turn to the following if

you have a problem? (5 = very likely, 1 = not liekly at all)

Figure 7: How big is the trust to advocacy CSOs compared to other institutions?

78 Has our dream come true?

friends, colleagues at work and the police. According to

answers, CSOs can be positioned in the middle between

sphere of community (family, friends, colleagues) on one

side and public institutions (members of parliament, mini-

stries, local government representatives, etc.) on the other9.

3.2. Embeddedness of civil society advocacy areas

For the purpose of analysing different advocacy areas, the

framework of following 15 advocacy areas was used:

•	 work of democratic institutions

•	 human and citizens’ rights and freedoms

•	 consumer protection

•	 environment

•	 animal rights

•	 anti-corruption

•	 national minority rights

•	 LGBT rights

•	 women rights

•	 rights of children

•	 disabled peoples rights

•	 international and global issues

•	 education, health, social policy

•	 economic policy

•	 citizens’ security

Embededness of the different advocacy areas of civil society

was analyzed through combination of following three

questions:

•	 ‘What do you think, how important advocacy activity

of civil society organisations would be in these areas

in Slovenia?’ This question was set to all 800 respondents

and is interpreted as the perceived importance of a particular

advocacy area (people want CSOs to be active there). As

such, it somehow covers cognitive level of embeddedness.

•	 Respondents who declared themselves as ‘active’ in CSOs

9) The police in this context has a special role as a public institution. One should not forget that respondents answered about turning to institutions when having a problem and the police in such situation certainly has an important role.

Has our dream come true? 79

(185 out of 800) were asked ‘In which advocacy area are

you active in?’ This question is interpreted as a reported

activity of citizens.

•	 Respondents who did not declare themselves as ‘active’

but are planning to get involved in advocacy activities (70

out of 800), were asked ‘In which area are you planning

to become involved in?’ This question is interpreted as

a potential citizensínvolvement in advocacy on specific

advocacy areas. It reflects their personal interest in parti-

cular area but is speculative at the same time.

•	 The level of embededness (in the table 11 marked as ‘overal

ranking’) is calculated according to the ranking of the sum

of ranks for every specific variable. Overall ranking 1 means

most embedded advocacy area and overall ranking 15

means least embedded advocacy area.



Importance of

Personal

Potential

CSOs (Q1)

involvement

involvement

sum of

overall

(Q7)

(Q13)

ranks

ranking

mean ranking mean ranking mean ranking

rights of

chidren

4,47

1

1,52

1

1,66

1

3

1

environment

4,35

6

1,50

2

1,59

2

10

2

disabled

4,44

2

1,36

4

1,45

6

12

3

people’s rights

women rights

4,38

4

1,26

7

1,57

3

14

4

Table 11: List of most / least embedded civil advocacy areas

80 Has our dream come true?

Importance of

Personal

Potential

CSOs (Q1)

involvement

involvement

sum of

overall

(Q7)

(Q13)

ranks

ranking

mean ranking mean ranking mean ranking

human and

citizens’ rights

4,38

3

1,32

6

1,45

6

15

5

and freedoms

education, health, 4,35

7

1,42

3

1,48

5

15

5

social policy

animal rights

3,96

10

1,36

5

1,55

4

19

7

citizens’ security

4,37

5

1,24

8

1,43

8

21

8

consumer

4,03

9

1,19

9

1,32

10

28

9

protection

anti-corruption

4,25

8

1,12

12

1,41

9

29

10

work of

3,74

14

1,17

10

1,22

12

36

11

democratic

institutions

national

3,88

11

1,16

11

1,16

14

36

11

minority rights

international and

3,77

12

1,12

13

1,22

12

37

13

global issues

economic

policy

3,77

13

1,12

13

1,23

11

37

13

LGBT

2,98

15

1,07

15

1,09

15

45

15

rights

Has our dream come true? 81

As it is evident from the table, advocacy area ‘rights of children’

is recognised as the most embedded one. The advocacy

area ‘LGBT rights’ is considered as the least embedded. The

first reached ranking of [1, 1, 1]. This means that participants

of the survey see the rights of children as important (cogni-

tive level), are most frequently active in it and are also most

likely prepared to become active in the field. The advocacy

area ‘LGBT rights’ reached the ranking of [15, 15, 15] meaning

it is neither important neither respondents are active in that

area and will not become active.

Some other most embedded areas are environment, disabled

peoples’ rights, women rights, human and citizens’ rights

and freedoms, education, health and social policy.

As other least embedded areas the following were recogni-

sed: international and global issues, economic policy, work

of democratic institutions and national minority rights.

There are some differences between ranks of specific variables

in advocacy area. The difference between cognitive level of

embededness (Q1) and real personal engagement (Q7) is of

special interest.

For example, the biggest difference between Q1 and Q7

consists in ‘animal rights’ advocacy area. While the respon-

dents do not see this area as significantly important (ran-

king 10) they are still quite active in this area of civil society

(ranking 5). Animal rights area is even more popular with

‘potential activists’ who on average ranked it on the 4th place.

Similar applies to advocacy areas of ‘environment’ and ‘edu-

cation, health and social policy’.

The ‘anti-corruption’ advocacy area stands out in the opposite

direction. Respondents see it as somewhat important (ran-

king 8 in Q1), yet they are obviously not prepared to do

anything about it (ranking 12 in Q7). Similar patterns can

be found in women rights and citizens’ security. Advocacy

area of ‘women rights’ has the biggest difference between

people active in the field and people declaring that they

could potentially become active. Taking 7th place in regards

to Q7, this advocacy area is in the middle of the popularity

82 Has our dream come true?

ranking among ‘activists’ but holding 3rd place in regards

to Q13, it becomes a rather popular area among potential

activists.

Reported activity

Perceived activity

(Q7)

(Q2)

Difference in

ranks

mean

ranking

mean

ranking

work of democratic

institutions

1,17

10

2,96

13

-3

human and citizens’ rights

1,32

6

3,27

6

0

and freedoms

consumer protection

1,19

9

3,29

4

5

environment

1,50

2

3,22

7

-5

animal rights

1,36

5

3,19

10

-5

anti-corruption

1,12

12

2,74

15

-3

national minority rights

1,16

11

3,20

9

2

LGBT rights

1,07

15

2,97

12

3

women rights

1,26

7

3,37

2

5

rights of children

1,52

1

3,59

1

0

disabled people’s rights

1,36

4

3,31

3

1

international and global

1,12

13

3,02

11

2

issues

education, health,

social policy

1,42

3

3,21

8

-5

economic policy

1,12

13

2,85

14

-1

citizens’ security

1,24

8

3,27

5

3

Table 12: Comparison of real and perceived activity of CSOs in the society We further compare the data about activism of CSOs (rank

Q07) with the question Q02 in which all 800 participants

were asked ‘How active are civil organizations in Slovenia

in these advocacy areas’. The comparison of these data

tells us something about actual and perceived presence of

organisations in specific advocacy areas.

There is no change at the top of the scale. Organisations

active in the field of the rights of children that showed the

highest level of embeddedness (Table 11) also score the

highest at Q2 (seen as the most present). In the eyes of the

public they respond to the most important challenges and

are therefore also (justifiably) the most visible.

At the bottom of the ladder of the most active organisations

we cannot find the LGBT rights organisations. They ranked

at the level 12, therefore 3 ranks higher. Respondents see

them as more active than the organisations active in the fi-

eld of anti-corruption (rank 15), economic policy (rank 14)

and work of democratic institutions (rank 13). We can conclude

that LGBT rights organisations are more present in the soci-

ety than the relevance of their work is important to the citizens.

We could assume that activists of these organisations are

more willing to stand out and that they prepare more pro-

vocative campaigns.

A similar conclusion can also be made for two more areas.

The field of consumer protection ranked as 9th on the scale of

reported activity, and ranked 4th on the scale of perceived

presence of the organisations. The field of women rights

ranked 7th on the scale of reported activity and 2nd place

on the scale of presence of the organisations in this field.

Reverse cases are the fields of a) environmental issues, b)

animal rights and c) education, health and social policy.

Perceived activity of each of these advocacy areas is 5 places

lower than reported activity of citizens in them.

Table 13 on the next page: Biggest differences in advocacy area rankings between importance of CSO advocacy activities, perceived activity of CSOs and personal involvement of individuals.

84 Has our dream come true?

Importance of NGO

Rank

advocacy activities

Perceived activity

Personal involvement in the

in the area (Q1)

of CSOs (Q2)

civil activities in the area (Q7)

1

rights of children

rights of children

rights of children

2

disabled people’s rights

women rights

environment

3

human and citizens’

disabled people’s

education, health, social

rights and freedoms

rights

policy

4

women rights

consumer protection

disabled people’s rights

5

citizens’ security

citizens’ security

animal rights

6

environment

human and citizens’

human and citizens’ rights

rights and freedoms

and freedoms

7

education, health,

environment

women rights

social policy

8

anti-corruption

education, health,

citizens’ security

social policy

9

consumer protection

national minority

consumer protection

rights

10

animal rights

animal rights

work of democratic institu-

tions

11

national minority rights

international and

national minority rights

global issues

12

international and

LGBT rights

anti-corruption

global issues

13

economic policy

work of democratic

international and global

institutions

issues

14

work of democratic

economic policy

economic policy

institutions

15

LGBT rights

anti-corruption

LGBT rights



3.3.3. Channels of communication and means of

involvement of citizens in civil advocacy actions

and CSOs

The following variables could help us to understand com-

munication between CSOs and the people. In combination

with our qualitative research they can be a useful when

discussing how and why people engage or want to engage

in CSOs and whether the strategies CSOs use to mobilise

them respond to their needs and needs of people or not.

Majority of the respondents have heard about civil society

organizations or their activities through public media.

Television still has the No.1 role with more than 90 percent.

It is followed by newspapers and magazines (78.6%) and

radio (67.5%).

Where or how did you hear about civil society

organizations or their activities? (% of ‘yes’ answers)

Figure 8: How people become acquainted with CSOs and their activities 86 Has our dream come true?

What is interesting is that those 3 channels of communica-

tion do not allow CSO’s to use and influence them directly.

CSOs can have more direct influence on all the other listed

channels (internet, street posters, leaflets, post information,

telephone contacts, friends & family, activists, events) but

not on these 3.

Traditional media still play a crucial role in supporting or not

supporting advocacy activities. They represent some sort of

a threshold for CSOs. Those who succeed to attract attention

of traditional public media seem to have much more possi-

bilities for success.

The number of those who heard about the activities of CSOs

or their activities form the activists is surprisingly low (27%).

The number is only a half of the number of the people get-

ting acquainted with the work of CSO through the personal

social networks (family and friends).

The following chart (Chart 10) demonstrates in what

ways respondents became involved in advocacy activities.

Following areas stand out: voluntary work (70.4 %), do-

nation (63.0 %) and supporting (e.g. signing petitions,

participation in campaigns) with 61.4 %. Other answers

achieved less than 40 %.

This question was answered only by the respondents that

defined themselves as active in the advocacy processes.

They represent 23% of all respondents.

If (as evident from Chart 10) 70% of them are active as

volunteers this would mean that 16% of all the respon-

dents (and therefore the whole population) is active in advocacy

in Slovenia. This fact is comparable with similar resear-

ches from this field (Civil Society Survey: 12%, Study of

Volunteering in the EU: 14-18%) and experiences of CSOs

(probably the biggest event in 20-years-long Slovenian

history, ecological action ‘Let’s clean Slovenia in one day’ ac-

tivated 13.5 % of people).

High level of donors among residents of Slovenia was also

proved in other studies. For example, the Civil Society

Survey (2005) states that 66% of respondents donated

Has our dream come true? 87



Means of real involvement in civil activity (% of ‘yes’ answers)

Figure 9: Means of real involvement in civil activity

money, food, or other goods for charitable purposes in one

year. In this research donation scored much lower results

(63% of active population which is around 14-15% of whole

population). But it is difficult to interpret this result since do-

nation in this research is seen only as a tool of advocacy, not

in general. However, the ratio of those declaring themselves

as donors in both researches is similar (60-70%).

Only 20.2 % of respondents declare that they have parti-

cipated in advocacy activities through chatting, blogging,

internet communities and chat groups. This is in a way

surprising, especially because during the last few years

we have been able to witness several social movements

worldwide evolving mainly through the internet. The internet

and social networks seem to be a powerful mean to

facilitate advocacy activities. Yet, the data show that the

potential of these networks is in Slovenia10 still not used.

10) 70% of 23% of respondents equals to 16% of respondents.

88 Has our dream come true?



What is also true is that communication through the internet

demands much more intellectual effort than for example

donation, signing petition or even most forms of voluntary

work.

The continuation of the questionnaire focused on the CSOs

the interviewees were active in. We asked them about the

means of their involvement in them. Therefore the answers

to this question could be interpreted as a sort of a control

question to the previous one.

Means of real involvement in CSOs

(% of ‘yes’ answers)

Figure 10: Means of real involvement in CSOs

Has our dream come true? 89



While in comparison to the previous question the share of

voluntary work, the involvement in the movements and the

web based advocacy activities are slightly higher the other

activities show smaller shares (donations, support and

membership). The reason for this score could be the fact

that the individuals relate more to the organisations in which

they perform higher levels of social participation.

The question ‘How do you plan getting involved in the (this/

these organization/s) activities?’ was put only to those re-

spondents that expressed their interest to get involved in

the advocacy activities in the future. The number of answers

(70) is too low to make any conclusions out of them. Among

this group voluntary work seems to be the most popular fol-

lowed by support and membership.

Potential means of involvement in CSO and its activities

(% of ‘yes’ answers)

Figure 11: Potential means of involvement in CSO and its activities (Q15) 90 Has our dream come true?

3.3.4. Advocacy CSOs citizens know and trust

In the questionnaire three questions about the concrete

CSOs were put to respondents. The respondents that defined

themselves as ’active’ were asked about the organisations

they work in (Q8). Those who do not see themselves as ’ac-

tive’ were asked about the organisations they might coope-

rate with in the future (Q14). All the respondents were asked

which organisations they trust (Q17).

The first places are as a rule taken by CSOs active in the field

of social policy (Rdeči križ and Karitas), rights of children

(Unicef) and protection of human rights (Amnesty Interna-

tional). Even though the organisations active in the fields

of rights of disabled people and women rights were ranked

high in the embeddedness scale they are not very high on

these lists.

In the list of organisations in which the ’non-active’ wish to

participate in the future the organisations active in the field

of animal protection are at the highest level. This field ran-

ked the 4th also in the list of advocacy areas in which the

respondents would like to activate in the future (see Table

11). Other two measures of embeddedness for this advocacy

area did not place this area as high as this.

Organisations that ranked low on the embeddedness scale

also do not appear high in the lists of concrete names of

the organisations11.

3.3.5. Note

The concepts of operating of the civil society like advocacy,

volunteering, petition, support, donation and similar are

often not clear to the general public or have diverse inter-

pretations. The presentation of the precise definitions of the

concepts is not possible in the telephone survey. It appears

that the respondents did not connect the concepts with

their practical experience.

11) Some answers to the questions were so ambiguous it was not possible to decipher the concrete organization they should represent. These answers were therefore omitted in the frequency analysis. In general the tendency to name the activity instead of the names of organizations was seen (for example: ‘animal protection’ or ‘philanthropy’ ). Where the strong possibility that the jargon Has our dream come true? 91

name of an organization ( ‘philanthropy’ for Slovenska filantropija - Slovene Philantropy) was used we marked it as an answer for the concrete organization.

Cases:

•	 One of the widest spread non-governmental organisations

in Slovenia – Gasilska zveza Slovenije (The Firemen

Association of Slovenia) was rarely connected to the

advocacy area of citizens’ security.

•	 We assume it was hard for the respondents to judge if a

certain type of their activity (like voluntary work) serves

advocacy or some other function of civil society (like

service to the community).

•	 In listing the names of organisations it was seen that

respondents often do not distinguish between the public

sector and the civil society sector (instead of the names

of civil society organisations they were naming the

public offices).

•	 The more concrete (not conceptual) the questions were

the more positive the answers of the respondents were -

they were able to relate to their concrete experience more.

3.4. Interviews analysis

The aim of interviews was to get a clearer picture of embed-

dedness from the side of the collective actors (CSOs). Results

which had been before acquired through quantitative sur-

vey were set to and checked with CSO representatives.

The interviews with the representatives of CSOs were

conducted by 3 interviewers. They all took the shape of

a structured interview12. Huge majority of the interviews

was done in person and a few over the telephone. The

full list of the representatives of the organizations intervi-

ewed is in the appendix to this document. The organizations13

were selected by the interviewers.

12) The structure of the interviews was identical in all the countries participating in the research. The list of questions can be found in the appendix to this document.

13) DrogArt, Ekvilib, DruštvoTemnoneboSlovenije, Društvo Informacijski center Legebitra, Društvo distrofikov Slovenije, Zveza Sožitje, Platforma nevladnih organizacij za sodelovanje in pomoč SLOGA, Agencija za razvojne iniciative, Slovenska filantropija, združenje za promocijo prostovoljstva, Zavod Volun-taritat, Umanotera, Amnesty International, Mariborska kolesarska mreža, PiC, Zveza potrošnikov Slovenije, Zveza ekoloških gibanj Slovenije, Društvo za zaščito živali Ljubljana, Združenje Moč, YHD, Evropa Donna, Beli obroč, Zveza 92 Has our dream come true? delovnih invalidov Slovenije, Slovenska zveza za tobačno kontrolo, PiP, ZPM

Maribor, Inštitut za razvijanje družbene odgovornosti (IRDO), Slovenska Karitas, Zavod Salesianum - OE Skala, KD Pina, Jezuitsko združenje za begunce Slovenije.

Two keys for the selection were used. The first one was to

interview the representatives of all the advocacy areas defined

in the quantitative research. This key was well regarded, so

the representatives of the organizations came from 14 of

the 15 advocacy area categories defined. The second key

was to involve both local and national CSO. This key was less

observed due to different reasons. The interviewees were

asked to define their geographical area of work and many

(83%) defined themselves as working on the national level.

Since Slovenia is quite small this was an expected result as

most of the advocacy activities soon have a wider impact

than just local14.

•	 The legal status of the organizations interviewed is shown

in the following table. Some of the organizations also

have an additional

•	 limited legislative status (work in public interest, humanita-

rian organization, representative organization of disabled)

accredited by the government bodies that enable them a

specific position in the relation towards the government.

3.4.1. Definition of interviewees

Identification of organization/campaign: (local / national /

international)

Local

8

National

25

International

6

Table 14: Identification of interviewed organizations/campaigns:

(local / national / international)

14) Slovenia is not officially divided into regions that could be used as tool to define the difference between the local and national involvement. The governmental units smaller than the regions are the 211 municipalities (on April 21st 2011) and the CSO often implement their activities in more than one.

Has our dream come true? 93

Legal personality

Association

16

Private institute

8

Federation of associations

4

Foundation

1

Organization registered in accordance with

1

the legislation on religious communities

Limited additional legislative status

Public interest

2

Humanitarian organization

1

Representative organization of disabled

2

Table 15: Legal personality of interviewed organizations/campaigns

94 Has our dream come true?

Advocacy areas where they operate

Advocacy area

Rank

Frequency

rights of children

1

5

environment

2

7

disabled peoples rights

3

5

women rights

4

3

human and citizens’ rights and freedoms

5

14

education, health, social policy

5

7

animal rights

7

1

citizens’ security

8

1

consumer protection

9

2

anti-corruption

10

0

work of democratic institutions

11

1

national minority rights

11

1

international and global issues

13

4

economic policy

13

2

LGBT rights

15

2

Table 16: Frequency of interviewed CSOs according to advocacy areas

Has our dream come true? 95



Frequency of interviewed CSOs according to the rank of

their advocacy area

Figure 12: Frequency of interviewed CSOs according to the rank of their advocacy area 3.4.2. Openness of the inner structure of CSO

The first set of questions in the interview was set to explore

the inner structure of the CSOs. The questions dealt with the

membership, employees and co-workers, annual meetings,

long term goal definition and the contact with the supporters

of the organisation.

The membership of the organisations

Although the membership of an organisation is in a way

defined by its legislative form the practice shows the orga-

nisations operate in their own way.

The association as a legislative form aims at connecting

people with similar interests, although in practice we can

see that membership is not the basic source and measure of

power of an association. There are more associations that

have 30 formal members, but have larger networks of non-

96 Has our dream come true?

-formal members, volunteers and sympathizers. Organiza-

tions providing concrete services to their own members

(organizations of disabled, association of consumers...)

have the largest memberships. Sometimes people become

members of the organization in order to resolve a problem

and then distance from it again when the problem is solved

(for example: Association of consumers).

On the other hand there is a category of private institutes.

By formal definition these organizations do not have a

membership structure envisaged in the legislation, but

some of them try to develop non-formal structures (for

example: club of volunteers) that serve as a replacement for

formal membership.

Federations of organizations are a special category. The

criteria for membership are formalized. Organizations often

build their public credibility based on the memberships in

these associations. The associations of organizations provide

services to the organizations members and through them

provide services to the individual members and supporters

of the member organizations.

Only a half of the organizations are trying to recruit new

members. All are trying to address different target groups

to support them in their work or get involved in their

programs. The benefits of membership are most clearly

presented by the associations of organizations and in some

cases the organizations with individual membership. The

organizations of disabled have the system of informing

potential members incorporated into the health care



system (maternity wards, centre for muscular disorders …).

Most organizations do not plan the recruitment of new

members as a specific activity.

Most of the organizations do not have formal criteria for

membership. The exceptions are the federations and the

organizations with collective memberships15. The key criteria

for membership are the potential member’s own interest

and the agreement with the mission and the values of the

organization.

15) Organizations where the members are organizations.

Has our dream come true? 97

On the side of media through which the recruitment is

taking place organizations report that personal contact is

undoubtedly more effective than any kind of advertising.

From the other approaches the web sites and electronic

newsletters stand out and are used by the majority of the

organizations. Universities are also a strong source of volun-

teers, since the organizations offer the students a possibility

to perform practical tasks related to their study program.

Many organizations think about attracting new members,

but not many work on maintaining the existent networks

that could strengthen the long term cohesion between

the organization and the members. This could support the

integration of members into the work of the organization

on the strategic level instead of just support to the organi-

zation in the implementation of individual activities. Long-

-term cooperation with members would strengthen the

possibility to attract new members through the work of the

existing networks.

We conclude that organizations often do not know how to

forage the potential of the membership and therefore not

invest in the membership at all. Often they are not even

trying to attract new members and the members they have

do not have an important role in organization’s work.

From the previous observations the following question

arises: What would the formalization of the membership

mean to the organizations? On one hand it could strengthen

the relationship between the member and the organization

resulting in a stronger involvement of the members in the

work of organization and also support the independence

of the organization form the other sources of financing (in

the form of membership fees, gifts …). On the other hand it

could mean a downsize in the non-formal networks in whi-

ch the members are cooperating with the organization, but

are not willing to take a stronger responsibility for the work

of the organization.

98 Has our dream come true?

Employees and volunteers of the organisations

One tenth of interviewed organizations have no employed

staff. Half of the organizations have up to 3 employees. Two

thirds of the organizations have up to 5 employees and only

one third has more than 5 employees. Karitas with all the

related institutes and two organizations of disabled16 stand

out. These organizations have more than 20 employees.

In a way the number of employments shows the strength of

the CSOs in the society. A significant part of these employees are

employed through the programs of public work17. There’s a

strong possibility that the fluctuation of the employees in

these organizations is high and the lack of continuity in the

employments has an impact on the quality of the programs

the CSO are implementing.

Two thirds of organizations have up to 20 volunteers, others

have 30 or more. Karitas (with 8.000 volunteers), Sožitje

(with 1.000 volunteers) and Association of Friends of Youth

Maribor (with 550 volunteers) stand out. We need to keep

in mind that in Sožitje and Association of Friends of Youth

the volunteers get a small financial reward for their work.

Most of the organizations do not see a unique potential of

volunteering and in line with that do not know how to

attract volunteers and work with them. Only a few organizations

really strive and plan the recruitment of the volunteers and

also know what the role of the volunteers in the organiza-

tion will be. In many organizations the only volunteers are

the members of different constitutional bodies of the orga-

nization.

There is a tendency among the organizations18 to formalize

the work of the volunteers in a form of codex and a signed

agreement on cooperation. This way of formalizing intends

to ensure taking the responsibility by the volunteers and

prevent the conflicts of interest.

If we make a conclusion that there is a relationship



between the number of the employees and a number

of the volunteers of an organization it seems that a



16) Organizations of disabled employ many personal assistants supporting their members.

17) The program of active employment policy supported by the government.

18) At least a third of the organizations interviewed.

Has our dream come true? 99

network of 20 volunteers requires around 3 employed

people to manage it. If the number of the volunteers is

bigger there is a need for a bigger support network.

Annual meetings of the organisations

Formally anyone can participate in the annual meetings of

the associations. The associations are by law obliged to work

transparently and the transparency is also defined in their

statutes. In practice the statutory meetings of the organiza-

tions are attended by the people really interested and involved in

the work of the organizations, usually the employees and

the officials. The rigidity of the concept was also seen in

the interviews where these groups of people were usually

referred to in line with their names used in the legislation. The

practice in some organizations also shows that the statutory

meetings prescribed by the legislation are often avoided. The

documents that should be the result of these meetings are

formulated in a less formal way.

Some organizations use a less formal form of meetings such

as experts meetings and similar activities. These meetings

open the work of organizations at least in the area of situati-

on analysis and gathering ideas.

We can conclude that there are not many people involved

in the annual statutory meetings of the organizations where

the formal decisions on the long term goals and the activities

are taking place.

Formulation of the long-term goals of the organisations

In the process of formulation of the long-term goals of the

organizations the opinions coming from two sources are

important. The first source is the opinions from within the

organization and the second is the opinions coming from the

environment of the organizations.

People involved in the formulation of the long term goals

of the organizations are most commonly the employees of

100 Has our dream come true?

the organization and the volunteers who are the members

of the statutory bodies of the organizations. Some of the or-

ganizations also expressed the role of the president of the

organization as the key source of ideas. The members of the

statutory bodies are the representatives of the membership

and therefore represent the interest of the members in the

development of the strategic long-term goals of the organi-

zations although in many cases the members of these bodies

are people working in line with the ideas of the employees

and/or president or on the other hand their power to transfer

the opinions from the members is relatively small. This circle

of people is sometimes expanded with the members of a

narrow work task focused groups.

The ideas formulated by the headship of the organisation

are later supplemented by the opinions of the members

expressed at the annual and the statutory meetings, but

there is not much chance to do it since the possibility arises

only once or twice per year and the meetings are often very

formal (as we have already seen in the previous section).

The basic guidelines for the development of the long-

-term strategic goals of the organisations often come from

the base of the organization (usually from the side of the

beneficiaries of the activities of the organization) through

the information hot-lines, project activities and the strategic

consultations. In the organizations where the telephone

information and counselling services are established for

the beneficiaries of the programs, the opinions of the

beneficiaries are transmitted to the organizations in form of

questions and concrete problems. The opinion of benefici-

aries in this way influences the long term objectives of the

organisation. One of the organizations even organises a

work-camp for the beneficiaries of their activities with the

sole intention of the formulation of the annual priorities in

the program. Participants of this longer event define their

needs and priorities through the series of facilitated processes.

Relatively high strength of the employees in formulating

the long-term strategic goals of the organizations could

Has our dream come true? 101

indicate they are the real motor of the organizations and

that the volunteers and the beneficiaries have less influ-

ence on the work of the organizations. One of the possible

explanations of this finding can be the fact that most of the

organizations are dependent on the financial sources pro-

vided by the public sector (through the scheme of public

procurement and grants) where the grant maker often defines

the strategic priorities of the activities.

The second source, conveying the information relevant for

the formulation of the long-term goals of the organization

from the outside of the organization is represented by the

ministries, EU and experts.

A number of organizations expressed their belief that there

should not be any influence of the politics and the orga-

nizations providing financial support to the organizations

on the formulation of long term goals of the organizations

because it would hamper the CSOs’ potential to act as

watchdogs in the society.

In reality the public sector defines the priority areas through

the policy documents that are later reflected in the public

procurement and grant schemes. In this way politics often

indirectly influences the long-term objectives of the orga-

nizations. Since many organisations do not have access to

funding to cover their overheads they try to get as much

funds as possible form the grants. Therefore they tend to

plan the content of the projects in line with the guidelines

of the calls for proposals instead of looking for funding for

the projects they already planned as a reaction to the needs

of their beneficiaries and members.

In best practices examples the voice of the experts comes to

the organizations through a number of open consultations

and the participation of experts in the consultative bodies

of the organizations.

The conclusions of this research lead us to believe that

the grant makers have much stronger role in forming the

long-term objectives than acknowledged by the CSO. The

sustainability of financial support is one of the elements in

102 Has our dream come true?

implementation of the mission and the long-term objectives

of the organizations. Since the employees of the organizati-

ons are the people usually preparing the project proposals to

the grant makers their opinion in often the one with the most

strength. The opinions of other constituents are often filtered

through the eyes of the employees before they are included

into the organizational strategies. In this way the organiza-

tions get caught in the trap of a seeming independence of

the politics and seeming commitment to the beneficiaries

and members. This might also be one of the reasons for the

perception of the CSOs in general public as presented in the

table 13 of the results of the quantitative part of the research.

Contact with the supporters of the organisations

The contacts with different groups of supporters vary

significantly. There in not much contact with the policy

makers and the financial supporters of the organizations.

Only some organizations have established permanent



cooperation with decision makers, policy developers and

other formal organizations that support their work.

There is also very low cooperation with other actors of

civil society. The networks of organizations and consortia

are often created on the demand of funders and only rarely

on the initiative of the CSO themselves because they would

see potential synergies in the cooperation with others.

There is more contact with the interested individuals. Most

organizations inform the individuals interested in their work

through their own web sites, electronic newsletters and

publications. A part of these activities also takes the shape

of experts meetings, but there is not many of them. Orga-

nizations report that contact in person is still the strongest

tool of cooperation and an information exchange.

In general we see the cooperation with supporters as

impulsive, based on the current needs of the organization,

but lacking the planned, systematic constant relationship.

This way of conducting relationships is also shown in the

Has our dream come true? 103

sustainability of financial support to the organizations. Most

of the organizations do not have a systemic funding for their

core activities but rely on the projects to cover the overhead

costs of the organization. If there was stronger connection

with different constituents the systemic funding could be

secured form the community support to the organizations.

3.4.3. Advocacy campaigns and projects

The second set of questions in the interview explored the

practices of advocacy campaigns form their conception

and development of the ideas through the planning and

implementation and also the involvement of people in their

implementation.

Citizens as a source and as a target group of the advocacy

campaigns and projects

Organizations are (in general) aware of the importance

of the fact that citizens are a source and a target group

of their advocacy campaigns. Most organizations do not

have a methodology how to harness the full potential of

this fact. They are more focused on citizens as a target

group than on citizens as the resource and work primarily

on the awareness raising activities. Some organizations

have a good source of information about the needs of

citizens through the system of support to the individuals

(support and counselling telephone lines, personal



counselling …) and use it. The organizations often claim

the lack of human resources and funding is a reason for the

lack of capturing and transmitting the ‘voice of the citizens’.

The employees of the organizations often act as filter that

follows the needs of the citizens but at the same time

filter the contents according to their own perspective. This

is especially true for the institutes and other organizations

focused primarily on the work for the target group.

104 Has our dream come true?

Setting the advocacy agenda

Defining the advocacy agenda is seldom a group and

a planned process. There are quite some cases of a key

individual setting advocacy agenda in the organization.

This individual can consult with the broader base of the

organization but in the end takes the decision on its own.

The most relevant opinion is very often the one of emplo-

yees and key volunteers (the leaders of the organization).

Many organizations rely on the opinion of the experts

(gathered through the expert board or external collabora-

tors) and some use the information gathered through their

own research. The organizations learn from this process

and are able to recognize more and more of the complex

phenomena and react on them.

In some cases the membership decides on the basic guidelines

and key projects20 and some of the associations report that

the opinion of the membership is very important. Since the

membership only convenes once or twice a year most of

the operational decisions are taken by the narrow circle of

leaders and employees. Only some organizations clearly

stated that the strategy of their organization is the basis

of the creation of the advocacy program and activities. A

few of them consistently involve their target groups into

the setting of the advocacy agenda.

A small number of organizations have an open commu-

nication channel with the beneficiaries or target group.

Information and opinions are gathered through the



communication of the beneficiaries with the employees

through a personal contact or via telephone. Quite many

organizations start from concrete cases. They analyse them

21) The process of adopting a law is often seen by the CSOs as a single case that needs to be addressed and the consequences of the law to be mitigated. Since there is no strong culture of involving CSOs in the process of preparation of the legislation, the organizations often get acquainted with the new piece of legislation just before it gets to the parliament procedure. Often the deadlines for the comments are very short. Therefore the CSOs do not have time for in-depth analysis of the proposed law and to implement proper consultations with wider public but just react to the text with the knowledge and resources that they have.

20) That is the practice envisaged by the legislation on associations.

Has our dream come true? 105

and mitigate the effects and later develop an approach to

change the social situation.

The agenda is also often set by the deadlines of legislative

process. Many organizations intuitively react to ad hoc cases

(including the legislative process21). The agenda is often

created within the narrow circle of employees, leading activists

and headship of the organization and is therefore depen-

dent on the potential of these people.

In the organizations that are a part of wider international

networks the advocacy program is strongly influenced by

these networks.

Development, implementation and evaluation

of an advocacy strategy and means

Most organizations do not have a developed advocacy stra-

tegy. What they present as a strategy is often the mission

of the organization and some methods and tools they use

most often. The most spread strategy is (the subconscious)

following of the current needs and current processes of

the legislation changes. Organizations have some general

guidelines defined in order to help them in setting the

advocacy priorities or the strategy is hidden in the thoughts

of the organization leaders.

Organizations involved in international networks often take

the elements of their strategy form their networks.

In the interviews the organizations tended to list the advo-

cacy tools they use, but did not give an impression that the

tools are selected with a certain purpose. This is also in line

with (the gaps in the) strategy definition. Organisations select

tools according to the financial resources available.

The list of tools is not uncommon: e-mail, web sites, fliers,

Facebook, pressure of the group, personal contacts, pe-

titions and letters, organization of events and non-formal

21) The process of adopting a law is often seen by the CSOs as a single case that needs to be addressed and the consequences of the law to be mitigated.

Since there is no strong culture of involving CSOs in the process of preparation of the legislation, the organizations often get acquainted with the new piece of legislation just before it gets to the parliament procedure. Often the deadlines 106 Has our dream come true? for the comments are very short. Therefore the CSOs do not have time for in-

-depth analysis of the proposed law and to implement proper consultations with wider public but just react to the text with the knowledge and resources that they have.

education. Testing of the advocacy tools is done by only one

organization.

In most cases the management of the advocacy activities

does not differ from the project management. This is often

done by the demand of the funders of the advocacy activi-

ties but can be also contributed to the fast that the project

management culture in the organizations is more rooted in

the CSO than the culture of strategic thinking.

One of the organizations has an external support in finan-

cial management and another one has a support in public

relations. Many relatively large organizations are leaded by

one key person. The one headed leadership and project

management are quite in line with the ad hoc culture already

described earlier. As a consequence this sort of culture leads

to poor use of resources available to the organization.

Most organizations do not evaluate the strategies since

they are non-existent. In most cases they do not evaluate

the campaigns and actions. The evaluation is done on a

more subjective level like for example: the law was passed,

the public supports usand the interest of the politicians was

shown … They also count the response of the general public

to the information telephone line as an evaluation.

Two organizations evaluate their campaigns through rese-

arch. In this way they measure the recognition of the activities

and the contentment with the activities in their target group.

Organizations systematically evaluate the non-formal

education they implement and the concrete activities (for

example: concrete therapeutic work with the victims).

Mobilising and involving citizens

Many organizations do not mobilize their supporters. One

of the organizations even claims they do not implement the

activities in which the supporters would be needed. Others

mostly use the basic elements of public relations (invitati-

ons to events, contacts with the journalists, e mails …). The

contacts with experts are also common in a sense of finding

Has our dream come true? 107

potential co-workers and contributors to the organization.

Two organizations stand out. First one is Europa Donna since

they are the only CSO interviewed that has a contract with a

PR agency. The second organization is Federation of associ-

ations for tobacco control that collaborates with Ministry of

Health in these issues.

It is very interesting that none of the organizations see the

donors as supporters and it looks like there is no collabora-

tion with them.

The lack of time on the side of potential co-workers end

the lack of funding, mentors and space on the side of the

CSO were the main reasons for not involving citizens in the

activities expressed in the interviews. Often there is also a

need for hard and expert work and that limits the number

of candidates.

There is not much interest for some advocacy areas in the

general public. These areas attract a very narrow group of

people (for example: animal protection). In some cases (animal

protection, LGBT issues) many people have prejudice. General

public opinion about people who are active in LGBT orga-

nizations is that they are homosexual themselves, which is

not the real case.

In some organizations the membership is related to an illness

and therefore the members do not have the energy to become

more involved.

Another big set of obstacles for involvement is related to

the passivity and disillusion of the people and their unrealistic

expectations form the public sector.

There is more involvement in the organizations with collective

membership then in organizations with individual mem-

bership. It seems that these organizations have a bigger

degree of involvement in their organizational culture, but

the reason could also be found in the demand of grant makers,

requesting networking and consortia building as an element

of project proposals.

In general involvement of experts through workshops and

expert opinions is seen. Communication with other groups

is more one way (announcements and invitations from the

side of organizations). People are more involved in imple-

108 Has our dream come true?

mentation of the activities than in planning and defining

goals.Some organizations just let the people express their

opinions through telephone calls, web sites and communi-

cation in person.

3.5. Focus groups analysis

The intention of focus groups was to explore advocacy function

of civil society in Slovenia. Since interviews provided us

mainly information about the concrete ways of functio-

ning of CSOs, focus groups were directed more into general

viewpoints representatives of CSOs share about advocacy.

4 focus groups were carried out, 2 with organizations that

function mainly on the national level and 2 with those that

function mainly on the local level. Inside each of these two

levels of functioning we separately chose organizations

which function in the most embedded advocacy areas, and

separately those functioning in the least embedded areas.

3.5.1. Development of the advocacy function of the

civil society in Slovenia over the last 20 years

According to the opinion of the participants of the focus

groups, the civil society played an important role in the

formation of the country in the time of democratic chan-

ges. Thus it contributed a big share to achieving of the main

dreams of the then-agents: the independence of Slovenia.

Unfortunately, many important representatives of the civil

society entered politics and other state jobs, which strongly

weakened the civil society.

Participants notice that the civil society in the later period

did not engage enough in different important social situ-

ations, among which corruption and economic crime were

emphasized in one of the groups. One of the participants

of the focus groups compares the civil society to a big and

Has our dream come true? 109

seemingly dangerous tiger that does not have teeth. In

participants’ opinion, helplessness of the civil society arises

mainly from the low level of its professionalization. The par-

ticipants mentioned that Slovenia is among the countries

with the least employees in the NVO per 1,000 inhabitants.

In participants’ opinion, the level and quality of advocacy

is additionally hindered by the way the media work. They

rarely make it possible to present the real arguments,

promote consumerism with their general culture, and do not

let enough of media space to some of the issues.

The participants of the focus groups are noticing a wish of

people to associate. As a proof they point to the existence

of many little societies, playbills, etc. However, not enough of

cultural activity has been recognized by the society. ‘Chil-

dren are full of ideas and initiatives, but by youth they realize

that no one supports them and intercedes for them. That is

why they become passive.’

Despite all of this, the participants of the focus groups state

many positive instances. Some mention influence of the

civil society on the passing of specific laws in the areas where

they work. The year 2010 was also a year full of broad cam-

paigns in the areas of environment, and against corruption.

The participants found out that the civil dialogue is well-

-developed in theory, but not effectively used in practice.

3.5.2. Successful and unsuccessful advocacy

campaigns

We have noticed that criteria for success or unsuccess of the

advocacy campaigns can be divided into two basic groups:

those linked with the contents of the campaign, and those

linked with its leadership and management.

On the level of the contents of the campaign we notice

these success criteria:

110 Has our dream come true?

•	 election of the campaign topic that does not divide people

but brings them together instead,

•	 clearly formed and presented viewpoints,

•	 clear goals of the campaign, which are clearly formulated,

•	 to present an issue that political parties cannot openly

oppose to,

•	 not just ‘being against it’, but at the same time offer the

solutions.

On the structure, management and leadership level we

notice the following success criteria:

•	 broad and branching network which organizes a campaign,

•	 linking with as many different political groups as possible,

among the non-governmental groups as well,

•	 collecting and presenting information from different sources,

•	 marketing approach,

•	 professionalism,

•	 active embededness of the population,

•	 long-term relation with focus groups (behaviour of the

workers in campaigns can change through time, you cannot

just inform)

•	 being in the right spot at the right time (luck).

The main reasons for the unsuccessfulness of the advocacy

campaigns are stated below:

•	 inappropriate selection of the topic (full of the previous

negative experience with the focus group),

•	 dismissal of the specificities of the individual (local) envi-

ronment,

•	 short-term contact with users (only informing, which ‘gets

passed by’ and only achieves minimal effects),

•	 campaigns focused only on certain or very narrow focus

groups,

•	 inaccurate planning of the campaigns or done ‘too quickly’,

•	 linking with only specific political parties or linking with

political parties in general.

Has our dream come true? 111

3.5.3. Involvement of the citizens into advocacy

Participants were asked the question: What do you think:

is involvement of citizens in the formation and achieving

of the advocacy goals possible, needed, useful and ef-

fective? Why?

A big part of the participants agrees that it is easier and makes

more sense to involve the citizens in the achieving of the

advocacy goals than in their formation. They think most of

people involve in the achieving of the goals rather than in

their formation because they need a sense of leadership

and clearly presented vision. In some participants’ opinion,

leadership and delegation inside it are crucial for the mobi-

lization of the people and their effective contribution.

When talking about the involvement of the citizens in the

formation of the goals, the least embedded organizations

mention limitation of sources needed for more comprehen-

sive activities in this area. On the other hand, one could sense

the under estimative attitude of these organizations of this

kind of involvement.

The two main characteristics of the groups of citizens, which

are preconditions for their involvement, are according to

the participants, interest and professionalism of those groups.

It seems that organisations do not have resources or interest

to convince uninterested public. Besides that, they also care

about the competences of involved citizens.

People often do not want to get involved. ‘If they are not

involved,’ participants say, ‘it is imperative at least to obtain

information from these groups. Vulnerable target groups

are especially sensitive due to fear or other obstacles, and

need special motivation.’

Organizations frequently divide wishes and needs of the

citizens: ‘Wishes of the citizens are often not real’ they say.

Information obtained from the citizens is thus filtrated

from various aspects by the representatives of the organi-

zations: from the priority aspect, the aspect of their mission

and vision, and from professional aspect as well.

A big part of the organization representatives is aware that

112 Has our dream come true?

they as well as their co-workers (members…) often speak

in favour of the aspects on society which are not in accordance

with public opinion and are somewhat alternative. That is

why in their opinion public opinion cannot be regarded

immediately – it can only be processed as one of the para-

meters which need to be taken into account in the advocacy

functioning.

The most embedded organizations have pointed to the

significance of the networks on the national and local levels

for involvement of citizens. They mainly get sources for

formulation and achieving of the advocacy goals from such

networks. It seems that their advantage is chiefly in being

part of the organization structure, which assures a certain

number of embedded citizens for itself. Huge network also

allows you to observe people better: ‘You sense it on the ter-

rain or the volunteers tell you...’ With other words, qualitati-

ve and informal research methods are often used as a part

of the learning process by such organizations.

The least embedded organizations have especially pointed

out the role of the media when trying to mobilize people.

‘If you cannot get to the media, it is much more difficult to

mobilize people.’ The representative of one of the most

embedded organizations has said something similar: ‘We

have a lot of media attention, that is why we invite to our events

those who do not have that attention and try to help them.’

3.5.4. General findings

The findings about characteristics of specific focus groups

(most and least embedded, national and local) are stated in

the chart below.

Has our dream come true? 113

Most embedded

Least embedded

•	 present in the media

•	 organizations are strong in

•	 they have a sense of influence on

academic approaches (research,

the formation of politics on the

think-tanks)

national level

•	 less engaged in the area of the

•	 are aware of their advocacy role

people work and acquiring of

National

•	 have a branching structure; are

broad support

larger systems

•	 prevailing way of advocacy:

•	 refined organizational philo-

public statements

sophy and know how

•	 they do not embed people in

•	 are learning organizations

formation of the goals

•	 critical to social situation

•	 they do not use the campaign

•	 they do not use the campaign

and advocacy vocabulary

and advocacy vocabulary

•	 on the local level not many

•	 they work solidly, make solid

politics are accepted; they do not

activities

see their own influence in this

•	 they do not embed many people

Local

context as strong

or organizations

•	 their advocacy activities are not

•	 it is more difficult for them to

present in the media

influence on politicians because

•	 there is no culture of the syste-

it is difficult for them to find a

matic planning and evaluation of

way to the decision-makers on

campaigns

the local level

Table 17: Abstract of general findings from focus groups analysis

114 Has our dream come true?

3.6. Conclusions

On the basis of the survey we can conclude that embededness

of an individual organization of the civil society in a specific

(local or national) environment depends on three parameters:

•	 Democratic and participatory culture in the environment,

•	 the advocacy area of organization functioning and

•	 organizational management.

It seems that only when all the three parameters are fulfilled

at the same time, we can declare organisation as embed-

ded.

Let us depict that with a metaphor of a plant and earth.

Democratic and participative cultures represent earth, from

where the organizations – plants grow. Different plants (that

is different organizations) need and get different nutritious

substances. That is why specific organizations in specific

earth grow faster than others. But general earth quality is

higher or lower – and that quality influences on the success

of the most of organizations.

Advocacy area of the organization in this metaphor represents

plant species. Due to the characteristics of the environment,

some plant species grow faster and other grow slower. Simi-

larly, organizations from specific advocacy area in a specific

social situation and climate attract more attention than those

from the other.

Organization management is in this metaphor health of a specific

plant. A healthy plant has better perspective for growth than

the unhealthy one. It can also use better (limited) resources

from the environment and turn them into a quality fruit.

Has our dream come true? 115

3.6.1. Democratic and Participatory Culture in

Slovenia

A Democratic and participatory culture in Slovenia can,

according to our information, be compared to the culture in

other researched countries. All of the countries have proved

that approximately a quarter of population is in some way

active in the processes of advocacy, and they stated similar

reasons for inactivity and similar activities they embed in.

It proved that CSOs in the establishment of democratic and

participative culture in Slovenia are not the most influential,

because they do not have an effective access to the popula-

tion. The most important role is the role of the mass media,

in organization representatives’ opinion, also educational

system and democratic tradition in the society.

Trust in the organizations of the civil society plays an

important part. According to our research, it ranks between private

structures (which possess the highest level of trust) on one

hand, and public institutions (which possess lower levels of

trust) on the other hand. Trust in a specific organization is,

according to our research, very different. It depends on the

organization’s image in the public. Solid experience of an indivi-

dual with specific organization bears an important influence.

3.6.2. Advocacy Area of the Organization

A research has shown that some advocacy areas are more

or less popular in the public. There is a relatively strong

connection between the three factors that embededness

of a specific advocacy area was measured with. Areas that

address concrete issues, which people have in their everyday

life, are considered by the people as the most embedded

areas. More abstract or global areas stand on the bottom

of the charts. The first places belong to areas related to specific

prevailing groups of people (children, handicapped, women

…), environment, health and social services. The last places

116 Has our dream come true?

belong to areas of global-political nature and related to

minorities (LGBT rights in ethnic minorities).

Interviews and focus groups have shown that the leading

personnel in the organizations often feel weather they work

in the areas which are quite interesting for the citizens or not.

There are areas where the individuals are willing to get enga-

ged more, although they do not consider this area that pro-

blematic. And on the contrary – there are areas which people

consider problematic but are not willing to get engaged in

them as much as in the other ones. We assume that it is related

to a professional difficulty of a specific area (international and

global issues as professionally difficult, and rights of children

as probably the least difficult area in the citizens’ opinion).

3.6.3. Organisational Management

We notice a lack of strategic approach in the planning and

pursuance of advocacy activities. Most of the organizations,

those from the most as well as those from the least embed-

ded advocacy areas react spontaneously to the challenges

that environment brings. We notice a strong presence of the

ad-hoc organizational culture.

One of the main sources in the advocacy is the people:

employed, experts, supporters, public’s affinity. According

to our research, representatives of the organizations do not

pay enough attention to contacts with different public. The

employed are a very influential group. They often decide

on matters which should be, according to the statutes in

organizations, decided by other bodies (such as the council

of society). An organizational structure also plays an important

part. If it is planned well, it makes it possible for the organi-

zation to get closer to people and use more of their poten-

tials with less effort.

We noticed that the researched organizations have a



somewhat under estimative attitude to getting new members

and supporters. In most of the organizations this attitude

is related to a lack of personnel and financial sources. This

Has our dream come true? 117

gives us an impression of a vicious circle (due to a lack of

personnel we cannot look for new personnel!) It seems a

way out of this circle is possible only with innovations in the

management area and approaches to engage people.

Factor of trust plays an important role in the involvement of

the citizens into advocacy processes. The organization can

gain trust mostly with long-term hard work; however, it loses

it much faster. That is why many organizations are aware of the

significance of being independent of political parties or other

ideologically somewhat more positioned organizations.

3.6.4. What Works?

At the end of the chapter we state some suggestions for

planning and implementation of advocacy activities, which

come from experiences of the participants in the research.

•	 Leadership. A society always needs a certain amount of

leaders. They are the ones who dream the picture of futu-

re, know how to visualize it and communicate effectively

about it. On the other hand, they know how to involve in

their picture a circle of citizens as big as possible – and

how to use their potentials. Being next to good leaders,

people do not feel only as consumers but also as active

participants in the process. On the other hand, people

feel that the road on which they walk is secure. They feel

that the leaders walk in front of them and guide them.

Listening. Organizations often find themselves in a situation

when their leaders have more knowledge and experience

than the average citizens. Leaders claim that they cannot be

helped by public opinion. However, the research showed

that the successful always listen to the area. They are

always researching it and learning from it. Researching by

participation is mentioned as a very practical approach

by them. This kind of researches are cheaper than clas-

sic ones, on the other hand it immediately and directly

influences the further functioning of the activists in the

118 Has our dream come true?

organization. In the organizations which use such approach

learning is a continuous process.

•	 The consciousness that we are alternative people! The

research has shown that leaders in the organizations have

a strong consciousness about being ‘alternative people’,

no matter which advocacy area they come from. They

claim that dreaming makes changes, and that actively

striving after their realization is an alternative posture

in today’s society. Those who successfully use this claim

that there is a strong need of the people to stand out, be

unique and be something special. They claim that advo-

cacy activity has much more possibilities for success if we

succeed in waking up this need in people.

•	Networking, specialization, and quality. Organization

cannot be the best in all the areas. You can be the best in

only a few narrow specialized areas. That is why speciali-

zation brings positive results in a long-term. The need to

network the organizations among themselves is linked to

it. Networking in Slovenia is still project encouraged. To

be able to successfully network there has to be a matching in

the area of values, and complementarity in the offer area.

Has our dream come true? 119

4. General Conclusions and

Policy Recommendations

The research ‘Have our dreams come true?’ has shown

that organizations of the civil society in Slovenia do not

perform advocacy function well enough. We have shown

in the research that the main reason for this is a low

level of the general democratic and participative culture in

Slovenia. Less than a quarter of population (23%) is active in ad-

vocacy organizations. Most of the citizens do not know the

advocacy concept, and do not see their role in organizations

of the civil society as one of the possible paths for solving the

problems which they encounter.

4.1. Knowledge about CSOs and

the Level of Trust in Them

When the citizens speak about solving solid problems, they

state that they have little trust in the organizations of the

civil society. These organizations are placed on the chart of

trust after family, friends, police, colleagues, and even after trust

in oneself. Half of those who are not active in the CSO think

that ‘social problems should be solved by other agents, and

not the CSO’ (graph 5). A lack of time (‘I do not have time’)

and financial assets (‘I do not have any money’) are stated as

the main reasons for the inactivity in the advocacy proces-

ses by the citizens (graph 5).

The Slovenes think that their country is responsible for

solving most part of their problems (Figure 2), although the

country and its institutions possess one of the lowest levels

of trust (Figure 8). Besides, they ascribe it a relatively low

power in the global world (Figure 3).

Most of the citizens do not form their viewpoints on the

CSOs by a direct contact with the organizations but mainly

by observing the mass media (Figure 9). The CSOs do not

Has our dream come true? 121

appear in the mass media very often and are usually not

exposed in them, which is especially true for successful

advocacy stories. The research has shown that the CSOs are

too small to be able to visibly influence on the democratic

and participatory culture in the country.

Most of the youth in Slovenia do not know much about the

topics, such as social participation, active participation and

responsible citizenship. According to the opinion of the

focus groups participants, this work is not done by the family

or the formal educational system. A very small number of

youth is embedded in the informal forms of education of the

active citizenship areas. Examples which the youth are given

in the family and at school are often just the opposite and

lead them into consumerism (results of the focus groups).

4.2. Social Participation

We are discovering that social participation of the citizens

in the communicational society is getting different images.

Many other forms are appearing next to traditional forms of

participation, such as membership in organizations, volun-

teering, and donations. These new forms of participations

are connected to the acquisitions of the communicational

society (social networks, electronic notifications, interactive

web sites, surveys, etc.) or modern marketing approaches,

which link social participation to a party and socialising.

Volunteering, donations and support are still the main forms

of participation. The research has shown that global web

is still underused as a participation medium. The citizens

involve in those advocacy activities which are more definite

and connected to their own everyday life. They rather carry

out the advocacy activities than participate in planning

them (the results of the interviews), which organizations

recognize as well. They like those advocacy areas which are

not connected to minorities or alternatives.

The activists in the CSOs often feel as alternative peo-

122 Has our dream come true?

ple when carrying out the advocacy activities (look at

the results of the focus groups). They say that in today’s

society the posture of an individual who is prepared to

risk something for the common good and also be willing

to get exposed for it is considered alternative. Thus it is

obvious why most of the CSOs have serious problems

when addressing and mobilizing different target groups

(members and future members, supporters, experts..)

and searching of the personnel potential for their work.

4.3. How Do Organizations React to

These Conditions?

Most of the CSOs do not use all the potentials speaking

about the involvement of the citizens in the advocacy

activities. Communication with different public, be it mem-

bership, supporters, experts, targeted public, or country, in

most organizations is not carried out in the long-term or

intentionally. Organizations often communicate unbridled,

as a spontaneous reaction to the stimuli from the enviro-

nment. Real strategic and communicational organization

plans, which the activists knew and were committed to,

could substantially improve the condition in this area. The

fact is that planning often aggravates the unstable year-

-long project funding from the public resources. Most orga-

nizations on the local and national level depend mainly on

this way of funding.

In relation to financial position, many organizations report

problems of maintaining that number of employees which stil

makes these organizations survive and function. In compa-

rison with other countries of European federation, Slovenia

has one of the smallest relative numbers of employees in

the sector of the civil society, if not the smallest number in

the European Union. There is a strong competition in trying

to get public resources, that is why the invitators’ priorities

somewhat define their advocacy agenda when it comes to

Has our dream come true? 123

organizations. There is a question what income share from

the public resources makes it possible for a specific orga-

nization to perform the advocacy function rather indepen-

dently.

The employees are often the most responsible for the orga-

nizations’ functioning. Thus they frequently make strategic

decisions which were in accordance with the organizational

structure supposed to be done by volunteers – the holders

of formal functions. These are small collectives (often equivalent

1-3 persons with a full-time job), that is why the employees

have to be competent in different areas. Large numbers of

(usually unpaid) overtime are normal in the sector of the

civil society. Consequently, overload occurs– one of the

main obstacles in strengthening of the civil society organi-

zations in Slovenia. The overload is paralysing the innovati-

veness, long-term planning, and relations which are crucial

when working with specific focus groups (f.e. volunteers).

4.4. Civil Society in Slovenia and

Advocacy

Interviews with representatives of the civil society have

shown that a big part of the representatives see advocacy in

a very limited and often even deformed way. Thus they do

not fully recognize the mission of the organizations in the

advocacy area, nor the needs and opportunities in this area.

The sector of the civil society in Slovenia is lacking personnel

and finances. The sphere of the state was operating most

of the functions in the former socialist society. It was expec-

ted that with the transition into the democratic system the

country would diminish its role and pass it to the developing

sphere of the civil society. But the opposite happened: after

20 years, the sphere of the state is spending even a larger

share of GDP, but the civil society, and especially its advocacy

function are marginal and in the eyes of the citizens an unim-

portant part of the society.

124 Has our dream come true?

At the end of the 80s of the previous century, the Slovenes

were dreaming about their own country and democratic

political system. Both were quickly achieved. Democracy

together with respect for human rights and political pluralism

in the internationally recognized country is a value which

was dreamt of by many Slovenian generations. However, the

research has shown that after 20 years most people, despite

the democratic regime, do not engage in social participation

as much as they did in the late 80s. It has turned out that just

dreaming of a democratic political system was not enough.

These dreams should be balanced with dreams of the citizens

competent for the life in the democratic society. Democracy

is valued by the citizens only if they possess competence for

life in the democratic society. In the last 20 years, there was

not enough education and preparation of the youth and

adults for active and democratic citizenship done in Slovenia.

4.5. Policy Recommendations

To improve the advocacy function of the CSOs in the years

to come in Slovenia, the authors of the research ‘Have our dre-

ams come true?’ suggest these measures. We focus on the

measures which can be carried out with some innovativeness

and restructuring without spending too much of the public

resources, for all the others measures seem unreal in the cur-

rent social situation, related to economic crisis.

•	 Education and preparation of the youth and adults for a

responsible participation in democratic society. It is about

formal and informal ways of up-bringing and education,

based on three elements: theoretic knowledge, practical

skills and values (‘attitude to’), which are the three ele-

ments of competence. Theoretical knowledge is not enough

if practical skills are not added to it and if it is not based

on the moral, attitude to the country and society, emotional

component and internalized democratic values.

•	 To encourage the media as one of the basic agents of the

Has our dream come true? 125

informal learning to support active participation, streng-

then trust in the CSOs and their reputation. The media

is lacking successful advocacy stories and examples of

successful and active CSOs.

•	 To strengthen the training of the main personnel in the

CSOs. Especially long-term trainings in the field of advocacy

strategies, management, long-term planning, leadership

and communicating with different focus groups. Conscio-

usness of the significance, needs and possibilities of advo-

cacy in the society needs to be raised in the whole non-go-

vernmental sector.

•	 Long-term forms of financing the CSO need to be established,

which will enable long-term planning and smaller dependen-

cy on yearly fluctuations in income of public resources. Inten-

tions, objectives and suggested activities in the notices have

to be set more openly for the advocacy area, and thus enable

the organizations to react to concrete and mostly new needs.

•	 The transmission of the part of social functions, which is

now done by the state, into the sphere of the civil society.

At the same time to make sure the quality of the services

remains the same or better, as well as the price. The civil

society, unlike the sphere of the state, has a potential to

ensure the same or a better service for the same or lower

price. At the same time to ensure that the CSOs will not

only be the executors but also active co-formers of policies

in the areas where the services are being performed.

•	 The time of the 80s of the 20th century needs to be precisely

reflected from the aspect of the civil society in Slovenia,

as well as the effects of the relative liberal socialism in that

time for the later development of the civil society in Slo-

venia. The authors of the research think that such analysis

could help understand many happenings in the civil society

in Slovenia in the last 20 years.

•	 It is needed to continue with the encouragement of

different forms of networking among the CSOs. The



already existing and well performing networks need to be

strengthened and new ones need to be made. At the same

time it is important to strengthen the advocacy function of

the networks.

126 Has our dream come true?

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132 Has our dream come true?

6. Annexes

6.1. Advocacy organizations respodents are active in

Please name the advocacy organizations you are active in!

Freq.

Rdeči križ (Red Cross)

23

Unicef

9

Amnesty International

9

Firefighters

9

Zveza prijateljev mladine Slovenije (Slovenian Association of Friends of Youth) 8

and its member associations

Karitas (Caritas)

6

Associations, connected to protection of animals

6

Zveza društev upokojencev Slovenije (Association of Pensioners) and its 6

member associations

Zveza Sožitje

5

Organisations of disabled people

3

Europa donna

3

Slovenska filantropija (Slovene Philanthropy)

2

Student organisation and its members

2

Youth senter(s)

2

Zveza združenj borcev za vrednote NOB Slovenije (II. World War Veterans) 2

Lovska družina (hunters)

2

Zavetišče Horjul

2

Eko šola

2

Table 18: Participation (Q8; only answers with frequency 2 or more are listed) 6.2. Organizations respondents plan to get involved with

Which organization or organizations do you plan to get involved

with?

Freq.

Associations, connected to protection of animals

4

Unicef

2

Table 19: Will to participate (Q14; only answers listed with more than 1 mention listed) 6.3.Organisations and movements respondents trust

Could you name a civic organisation(s) or a civic movement which you

trust?

Freq.

Rdeči križ (Red Cross)

58

Karitas (Caritas)

39

Unicef

35

Amnesty International

23

Associations, connected to protection of animals

14

Zveza potrošnikov Slovenije (Slovene Consumers’ Association)

13

Firefighters

12

Zveza društev upokojencev Slovenije (Association of Pensioners) and

8

its member associations

Could you name a civic organisation(s) or a civic movement which you

trust?

Freq.

Zveza prijateljev mladine Slovenije (Slovenian Association of Friends of 6

Youth) and its member associations

Beli obroč

5

Zveza Sožitje

4

Organisations of disabled people

4

Slovenska filantropija (Slovene Philantrophy)

4

Umanotera

4

Sonček

4

Europa donna

3

SOS telephone

3

Društvo Ključ

3

Zeleni krog

2

Društvo za nenasilno komunikacijo

2

Student organisation

2

Clean Slovenia in one day

2

Univerzalno življenje

2

Tržnice ne damo

2

Pes moj prijatelj

2

Green Peace

2

Table 20: Trust – (Q17, only answers with frequency 2 or more are listed) 6.4.Overall ranking of organizations mentioned

Q8:

Q14:

Q17:

Please name

Which organiza-

Could you

tion or organiza-

name a civic



the advocacy

organizations

tions

organization(s) Sum

you are active

do you plan to

or a civic move-

in!

get involved

ment which you

with?

trust?

Rdeči križ (Red Cross)

23

1

58

82

Unicef

9

2

35

46

Karitas (Caritas)

6

1

39

46

Amnesty International

9

1

23

33

Associations, connected

6

4

14

24

to protection of animals

Firefighters

9



12

21

Zveza prijateljev

mladine Slovenije (Slo-

8

1

6

15

venian Association of

Friends of Youth) and its

member associations

Zveza društev

upokojencev Slovenije

(Association of Pensio-

6



8

14

ners) and its member

associations

Zveza potrošnikov

1



13

14

Slovenije (Slovene Con-

sumers’ Association)

Zveza Sožitje

5



4

9

136 Has our dream come true?

Q8:

Q14:

Q17:

Please name

Which organiza-

Could you

tion or organiza-

name a civic



the advocacy

organizations

tions

organization(s) Sum

you are active

do you plan to

or a civic move-

in!

get involved

ment which you

with?

trust?

Organisations of disabled 3



4

7

people

Slovenska filantropija

(Slovene Philantrophy)

2



4

6

Europa donna

3



3

6

Umanotera

1



4

5

Sonček

1



4

5

Beli obroč





5

5

Student organisation

2



2

4

and its members

Youth center(s)

2

1

1

4

Table 21: Overall ranking (Q8+Q14+Q17 frequencies; only organisations with 4 or more mentions listed

Has our dream come true? 137

6.5. Organizations participating in focus groups

Locally

Nationally

Most

•	 Municipal Scout Association of

•	 Association of Friends of

embedded

Ljubljana (MSC) – the chief of public

Youth, secretary general

relations

•	 Trepetlika, vice-

•	 Youth Information and Counselling

president

Centre of Slovenia (YICCS) – project

manager

•	 Ecologists without

Boundaries, founder

•	 SOS Telephone for Women and

Children Victims of Violence–

•	 Student Organization of

the head of the SOS telephone

University of Ljubljana,

programme

ex-director

•	 Institute for Preservation of the

•	 Scout Association of

Ljubljana Marshes (IPLM)

Slovenia, secretary

general

•	 Youth Help Centre (YHC)

•	 Youth Association No

•	 Youth Cultural Centre Domžale,

Excuses, president

Society for Promotion of the

Unauthorized Market with Ideas

•	 Association Pelikan

(SPUMI)

Karitas, director

Least embedded •	 Juncture of the Non-Governmental •	 Association Dih

Organizations of Podravje

•	 Association of Serbian

•	 Infopeka (Volunteer Network)

Societies

•	 Tourist Association of Styria

•	 Civil Iniciative for Family

and Children Rights

•	 Youth Society Frka

•	 Papilot

•	 Association for the Culture of

Habitation Maribor

•	 Institute Novum

•	 Association of Christian

Businessmen of Slovenia

•	 Liberal Academy

Table 22: The list of organizations, embedded in 4 focus groups

6.6. Successful and unsuccessful promotional campaigns

and initiatives as stated by focus groups respondents

Campaign

Leverages for Success

The campaign encourages solidarity to others. It does not

Karitas: 40 Days without

make someone feel like a bad person because he drinks,

Alcohol

but encourages him to renounce alcohol for others inste-

ad.

Youth Association No

Excuses: Influence on the Clear viewpoints, innovativeness.

Limiting Law of the Use of

Tobacco Products

Association of Friends

(it brought consensus on the social level that physically

of Youth: A Campaign

punishing children is not appropriate)

against the Physical Puni- It was successful due to the broad network (1,300 answers shment of Children in the of parents and children – almost twice as much as they are Family

used for public opinion). The network has 150 societies.

Scout Association of

A very short tradition. There has not been any success yet,

Slovenia: Raising of Youth but the Council for Youth Questions was established.

questions

A good (linking) idea.

Ecologists without Boun- ‘Attack’ from everywhere (from umbrella organizations as daries: Cleaning Slovenia well as local organizations).

in a Day

Not just criticizing, but at the same time they offer a solu-

tion. As many people as possible must feel included – real

coalition.

Society Trepetlika: Train-

Informal atmosphere. No lectures or sitting in the hall.

ing of the Patients with

Parkinson Disease

Society Ljubor: Green

They embedded experts that presented their own vi-

Slomšek Market

ewpoints. The initiative was very interesting for the media.

They won media over.

Has our dream come true? 139

Campaign

Leverages for Success

A comparison with other countries was made. They used

Kings of the Streets: Advo- a structured approach, and incorporated professional su-cacy of the Homeless

pport. It was a long-term campaign.

Institute Novum: Univer- Systematic and long-term work, public discussion and sal Basic Income

confrontations are set.

The agents see the need of systematic order of volunte-

ering in different areas, and it was inevitable for the law

The Law of Volunteering. to be formed. There was no principled opposition. After it was lying in drawers for some years, the government and

civil society made it possible for the law to be passed.

Advocacy of the Irased

The politics solved the problem well. The mistake was ad-

mitted, but no one answered for it.

Rado Pezdir: Overpaid It is about the problem that did not divide people – each electricity

saw himself in it. At the same time, it is about the matter

that represents the core of the problem of our society.

Tourist Association of

Styria and Other Tourist They found political parties which could support this con-Society: In the Strategy of cept and establish it (successful lobbying).

the Development of Touri-

sm the Society Is the Main

Pillar.

SPUMI (Society for Promo-

tion of the Unauthorized A cultural event, organized by the youth (from different or-Market with Ideas DPNTI: ganization), there were representatives of all the political Campaign for the Establi- parties in the district council and the local media, despite shment of the MKC Dom- the cold. It was so obvious that the youth has nowhere to žale

go that it was impossible not to agree.

Big billboards with solid statements of the youth about

the poverty, combined with the presence of the media. A

YHC (Youth Help Centre): big response of the public, the goal to establish the im-For New Possibilities

mediate connection between the donor and recipients of

the help was not achieved. Despite this the organization

received a lot of material help.

Campaign

Leverages for Success

IPLM (Institute for Preser- With an idea of a competition and through the embede-vation of the Ljubljana dness of the communities and other societies that functi-Marshes): Competition of on in this area. The competition developed into a cultural the Movers and Rakes

ethnological event, which is hosted by different commu-

nities every year. It raises awareness and it also has an

applicative value in the preservation of the habitats (they

mow by hand 70,000 m2 of meadows each year).

SOS Telephone: Collabora- Due to their professionalism they entered the working in-tion in the Making of the stitutions that treat constitution from the field of the vio-Constitution

lence in the family. They were successful at the initiatives

for the amendments to the laws.

SOS Telephone in Colla- Black and white billboards of a woman with a bruise in boration with Other Orga- 1999 had an effect in the broad public. A good billboard, nizations: What Is Wrong, which was spread all over Slovenia.

Girl?

MISSS: Fieldwork – Basket- Connecting of the youth from the block of flats through ball

sports, and supporting their active participation (field

care).

Billboards with photos of the endangered species in the

public institutions (schools, health centres, municipal

ZOLB: Endangered Animal buildings) in the marshes area remind people of the biotic and Plant Species of the diversity. The organization offers an upgrade in the form Ljubljana Marshes

of presentations of the specific animal and plant species

according to the wish of the institution. Every morning

when the mayors go to work, they meet an endangered

animal or plant specie.

Table 23: Cases of successful advocacy campaigns

Has our dream come true? 141

Campaign

Leverages for Success

Karitas: Working with

The opinion of the interior public that the Roma people

Roms

cannot be helped or that there is no sense in that.

At the workshops one can only inform, but behaviour ca-

Youth Association No

nnot be changed. We can function on the inside as those

Exuses: Peer Workshops

who change behaviour but on the outside we can only

inform.

Association of Friends of

The idea does not come through state-judicial channels.

Youth: Guardian of the

Rights of the Child

Ecologists without

Indiscreet collaboration with politics; consensus is not

Boundaries: Plastic Bags

broad enough.

Not enough time for planning was taken, that is why the

Campaign for Prohibition strategy was not complete. They also clashed against the of Animal Breeding for Fur cold bureaucracy (VURS). Powerful interests of economy were present.

Campaign against SAZAS Powerful lobbies, there is no broad unified support and unified presentation of the civil society.

Society Ljubor: The Signs It is about an idea of the society. However, they could not of Discernment in Maribor attract crucial people and embed them in the co-creation.

Liberal Academy:

The journalists took neutral viewpoint and the holders of

Referendum of RTV (2005) the campaign could not inform and convince the public.

When the government changed there was also a change

Society Dih in other LGBT of the proposal because the wishes of the initiators were Organizations: Same-Sex no longer the same. People are not willing to support the-Parenting

se rights because they fear they will be considered homo-

sexuals as well.

142 Has our dream come true?

Liberal Academy: Story of There was the media blockade, that is why several state-Non-Payers

ments of the agents were not published.

Initiative for Intergenerati- The government uses the ideas of the civil society and re-onal Centre Maribor

alizes them. Economy is not able to collaborate with the

civil society.

Society Ljubor: Collabo- It is purely about the principled embededness of the civil ration in the Preparation society in the happening, in some cases the local gover-of Nature Conservancy in nment does not give space for active co-creation.

Maribor

Table 24: Campaigns stated as unsuccessful

Has our dream come true? 143

www.socialna-ak

http://socialna-ak ademi

ademija.si ja.si





Document Outline


Executive Summary

1. The ‘Dream’ of a Country 1.1. Pre and Post World War II Social Conditions and the Idea of Autonomy

1.2. Developing a Dream of One’s Own Country

1.3. Sudden Unity in Dreaming of an Independent Country?

1.4. Who Was Dreaming and What Were They Dreaming about?

1.5. Dreams about the Civil Society

1.7. Conclusion





2. Civil Society in Slovenia: A Failure of a Democratic Ideal 2. 1. Introduction

2. 2. Historical Context

2. 3. Slovenian NGOs: Their growth and State of Affaires

2.4. Relationship of the Citizens towards Civil Society

2.5. The NGO participation in the processes of decision-making

2.6. Conclusion and Extensions





3. Embeddedness of Advocacy Organisations in Slovenia 3.1. Theoretical background

3.2. Methodological background

3.3. Quantitative survey analysis

3.4. Interviews analysis

3.5. Focus groups analysis

3.6. Conclusions





4. General Conclusions and Policy Recommendations 4.1. Knowledge about CSOs and the Level of Trust in Them

4.2. Social Participation

4.3. How Do Organizations React to These Conditions?

4.4. Civil Society in Slovenia and Advocacy

4.5. Policy Recommendations





5. References

6. Annexes 6.1. Advocacy organizations respodents are active in

6.2. Organizations respondents plan to get involved with

6.3.Organisations and movements respondents trust

6.4.Overall ranking of organizations mentioned

6.5. Organizations participating in focus groups

6.6. Successful and unsuccessful promotional campaigns and initiatives as stated by focus groups respondents