ABSTRACT
Slovenia, one of Europe’s youngest states, has experienced since 1981 the degeneration and foundering of its, by then liberalized, autocratic political system. Until June 25, 1991, Slovenia constituted one of six republics within the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. According to the Yugoslav National Army (JNA) secret staffing guidelines, officers of Slovenian origin could be in principle allocated 18 to 20 general rank positions out of about 220 at a time. The Slovenian political elite used to be informally consulted prior to the appointment of the JNA military district commandant whose responsibility covered Slovenia’s territory. Several developments in Yugoslav civil-military relations since the 1960s have had an important impact on Slovenia. The doctrine of total defense reflected a measure of liberalization and decentralization in the authoritarian communist system Yugoslav style. The evolution in Yugoslav civil-military relations since the late 1940s could be presented comparatively in the East-Central European context.
