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The article presents the political participation of the Slovene minority in Carinthia from the plebiscite of 1920 until the present. The changed electoral franchise agreed by the ruling parties in Carinthia in the 1970s blocked attempts of the minority to be incorporated adequately in a broader political sphere. The political actors of the minority followed two strategies: one of building up their own political structures in local parties and one of joining Austrian and Carinthian mainstream parties. This paper gives a brief overview of the minority's struggle for self-governance and political participation. It introduces the organisational structure of the minority and its opportunities for political participation. Its aim is to deal with the question of which factors led to political differentiation and how to assess this.
Keywords: Carinthian Slovenes, political participation, minority representation, differentiation, organisational structure.
Članek predstavlja politično participacijo slovenske manjšine na avstrijskem Koroškem od plebiscita leta 1920 do danes. Sprememba koroškega volilnega reda v 70ih letih prejšnjega stoletja je preprečila zadnja prizadevanja za participacijo manjšine na širši politični ravni. Politični akterji manjšine so sledili dvema strategijama: ustanavljali so lastnepolitične strukture na lokalni ravni ali se vključevali v avstrijske in koroške večinske stranke. V članku avtor oriše prizadevanja manjšine za samoupravo in politično participacijo. Nato predstavi organizacijsko strukturo manjšine ter njene možnosti za politično participacijo. Ob tem obravnava vprašanji, kateri dejavniki so vplivali na politično diferenciacijo znotraj manjšine in kako gre le-to oceniti v smislu politične participacije.
Ključne besede: koroški Slovenci, politična participacija, zastopstvo manjšine, diferenciacija, organizacijska struktura.
1.Introduction. A Brief Historical Overview Since the Plebiscite of 1920
In the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Slovenes were separated by the monarchy's frontiers. During the last decade before the First World War in particular, Carinthian Slovene political and economical organisations were increasingly oriented towards Ljubljana. As a result of the 1920 plebiscite, in which Carinthia was defined by today's borders, the newly created national minority had to rebuild its cultural, economical and political organisations. The first attempt was the founding of the newspaper Glas pravice, which was printed from January to July 1921. Due to Carinthian Landtag and local council elections in April 1921, the Political and Economic Association of Slovenes in Carinthia (Politično in gospodarsko društvo za Slovence na Koroškem) was founded. The organisation brought out...