The Habsburg state as the context of the political cohabitation in Slovenia – an attempt at defining the wider space

Abstract

In the beginning of his article the author defines the concept of the political and social cohabitation as a terminological tool for analysing the processes of the (non)observance or inclusion/exclusion as practiced by social and political groups. Then the author explores the general relationship between democracy and cohabitation in the political philosophy, modern theory of democracy as well as the Catholic and Marxist tradition. The third part of the contribution focuses on the role of coexistence in the modern Slovenian press, where the theory of the Slovenian disunion is very much present. It is not possible to understand the political cohabitation in the Slovenian territory in the beginning of the 20th century without being familiar with the social circumstances in the Habsburg state. In the final decades two concepts/notions are especially evident in the historiography concerning the Habsburg Monarchy: political culture and civilian society. On the basis of comparative historiographic literature, in his contribution the author demonstrates the relevance of political culture, civilian society and radicalisation of the political space in the final years of the Habsburg Monarchy for the issue of the political co–habitation in the Slovenian space.