The Political Science Professional Project in Slovenia: From Communist Monism, Democratisation and Europeanisation to the Financial Crisis

Abstract

In this article, we assess the effects of democratic transition, theintroduction of a capitalist economy, the creation of a newlyindependent state and international economic and politicalintegrations on the employment potential of political sciencegraduates. While we particularly focus on Slovenia, we will alsoconsider the broader challenges faced by many professionsacross Europe. The empirical study is based on a series of tracersurveys carried out since 1969, as well as an analysis of politicalscience programme curricula, enrolment and graduation statisticsand official data on employability. The statistical and survey datais supplemented by stakeholders' views. Our main finding is that,paradoxically, under socialism, the pressures on political sciencesupported internal professional integration so that the professionwas better able to adapt to the initial democratisation than tomarket-induced domestic changes and the challenges of globalcompetitiveness (including the Bologna HE reform). The recentinternational financial and economic crisis has only reinforcedthese challenges.