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

In this article, we assess the effects of democratic transition, the introduction of a capitalist economy, the creation of a newly independent state and international economic and political integrations on the employment potential of political science graduates. While we particularly focus on Slovenia, we will also consider the broader challenges faced by many professions across Europe. The empirical study is based on a series of tracer surveys carried out since 1969, as well as an analysis of political science programme curricula, enrolment and graduation statistics and official data on employability. The statistical and survey data is supplemented by stakeholders' views. Our main finding is that, paradoxically, under socialism, the pressures on political science supported internal professional integration so that the profession was better able to adapt to the initial democratisation than to market-induced domestic changes and the challenges of global competitiveness (including the Bologna HE reform). The recent international financial and economic crisis has only reinforced these challenges.