Review article
Conflicts as a Result of Migration
Bojan Trnovšek
; Velenje, Slovenia
Abstract
The processes of immigration of labour four during the 1960s for the first time in history turned Slovenia into an immigration society. Immigration was directed mainly to mining and industrial centres. According to the 1991 census, the number of settled immigrants in Slovenia was already about 227.000. They were for the most part unqualified workers, originating from totally different socio-historical milieux. After gaining independence in 1991, Slovenia passed two important laws, significant also for immigration flows to Slovenia, namely the Citizenship Law of the Republic of Slovenia, and the Aliens Law. Today Slovenia is, on the one hand, a typical transit country for migrants from East Europe and Asia, and on the other hand, a typical immigration society for citizens of the former Yugoslav republics, especially for those from crisis areas. The geographical position of Slovenia plays the role of a buffer for migration pressure from the East to the West. Today, in Post-Independence Slovenia, all ethnic prejudices and hostility had found fertile ground on which to develop. The reasons for this are mainly unemployment, political instability and permanent uncertainties in regard to future economic success, and also the manner in which the official policy handles and supervises the flow of immigrants and refugees to Slovenia. The presence of masses of displaced persons, which language, way of life and cultural values are different from those of the Slovenian experience, implies − for the first time in the newer Slovenian history − the real insecurity of discrimination, and finally warns us concerning the use of violence in regulating personal and public intolerance and hostility.
Keywords
migration pressure; relations to foreigners; conflict; ethnic distance; intolerance; nationalism; Slovenia
Hrčak ID:
126960
URI
Publication date:
29.12.1995.
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