The paper deals with the cross-border cooperation, which was due to the tensions of the Cold War often limited to the countries with similar socio-political systems. Among the first regions to start promoting policies of mutual cross-border cooperation was undoubtedly the Yugoslav/Slovenian-Italian border area. The Yugoslav-Italian border was presented by the authorities as the most open passage between the Western-capitalist and Eastern-socialist countries, and an alternative paradigm to the Iron Curtain. To promote the openness of the border, the Open Border Initiative was launched by the municipal authorities in Italy (Municipality of Dolina) and Yugoslavia (Municipality of Sežana) in 1981.
B.03 Paper at an international scientific conference
COBISS.SI-ID: 1536567236The paper sheds light on the attitudes of major players in the international arena towards Slovenes as a nation and to the formation of the independent Slovene state, with special emphasis on the following milestones: WWI, WWII, Slovenia’s declaration of independence. It was only during WWI that the superpowers started to consider Slovenes as a nation, yet they perceived it as “ahistorical” and incapable of standing up for its own rights and transforming itself into a nation-state. As a result, they used the Slovene territory in the international territorial trade. Their attitudes changed during WWII owing to Slovenia’s participation in the anti-fascist coalition. Nevertheless, 45 years later the superpowers objected to Slovenia’s aspirations to become an independent state outside Yugoslavia.
B.03 Paper at an international scientific conference
COBISS.SI-ID: 55380066The project team member Andrej Rahten is a member of editorial board of International journal of diplomacy and economy, the first international journal devoted entirely to fostering/understanding issues interconnecting diplomacy and economy.
C.06 Editorial board membership