The Challenges of the Modern State

Project description

The book Izzivi moderne države (The Challenges of the Modern State) begins with a historic academic debate between Peter Jambrek and Dimitrij Rupel on the emergence and formation of the Slovenian state and the transformation of Slovenian sovereignty that occurred in a historical period in which our state very quickly progressed from a federal unit to a full member of NATO and the European Union, which we have even presided over. Damir Črnčec expands upon the issues addressed in the debate in his detailed scientific study on the geopolitical and geostrategic challenges and opportunities of Slovenia in the 21st century,
the foremost of which at the constitutional level are human rights. As Jernej Letnar Černič demonstrates in his chapter, it still happens all too often that the rights of an individual are not respected even though they are recognised by the highest European courts.
In Slovenia, the protection of the fundamental human rights and freedoms falls within the remit of the constitutional court. Constitutional court judge Jan Zobec writes in theoretical terms about how to approach the resolution of conflicts in relation to the fundamental constitutional rights in a convincing manner. His contribution concludes the positive law part of the monograph and introduces the part dealing with ethics and legal philosophy. The ethical discussion is opened by Vojko Strahovnik, who breaks down the highly topical issues of guilt, shame and reconciliation at a high academic level. His analysis of the philosophical issues is based primarily on the personalistic ethics of Bojan Žalec, whose contribution sheds light on the pathological dimensions of our social structure in abstract as well as concrete terms and outlines possible ways of resolving the present deep ethical crisis. The book is concluded by a contribution authored by Matej Avbelj, in which he attempts to identify the fundamental assumptions of the rule of law and a way to resolve the crisis of the degradation of the rule of law in Slovenia.
The project was co-financed by the Slovenian Book Agency in accordance with the Call for Proposals to Receive Co-Financing for the Publication of Scientific Monographs in 2012 (designation: JR11–ZM–2012).

Project results

The School of Government and European Studies engaged a number of experts in various scientific fields to present their views on the past, present and future of the (Slovenian) modern state at a high academic level. The experts who participated in the project were Matej Avbelj, Damir Črnčec, Jernej Letnar Černič, Peter Jambrek, Dimitrij Rupel, Vojko Strahovnik, Jan Zobec and Bojan Žalec. Based on their original scientific contributions, a book entitled Izzivi moderne države (The Challenges of the Modern State) was published under the editorial leadership of Matej Avbelj.