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Knjižne ocene https://doi.org/10.3986/dd.2022.1.15
Dejan Valentinčič, Medetnična integracija v lokalnem okolju. Primer 
Nove Gorice in Gorice 
Gorizia: Zadruga Goriška Mohorjeva and Inštitut ASEF za izobraževanje in 
raziskovanje, 2021, 413 pp.
A couple of years ago, I tried to collect information about the ethnic policies in 
South-Eastern Europe for university teaching. Slovenian colleagues were very coop-
erative and supplied me with rich information about the social integration policies 
concerning Roma. This information was enough for resolving the tasks I had at that 
time. However, step by step, I learned more about the ethnic composition and inter-
ethnic relations in Slovenian society. I was struck by the fact that the ethnic picture 
there was much more complex and complicated than the single case of the Roma 
minority. In addition, I received a lot of information about Slovenian ethnic minori-
ties in the neighboring countries.
Then another surprise came when I noticed very few studies on the economic, 
political, and cultural integration of the one-tenth of the population of Slovenia that 
has a non-Slovenian or mixed ethnic identity. I wondered about this situation of the 
ethnic studies in Slovenia given the numerous, detailed, and very competent sociologi-
cal studies on other areas of the country’s social life. The explanation I received was that 
the topic was not particularly interesting since there were no noticeable interethnic 
tensions and conflicts in Slovenian society. The people with non-Slovenian or mixed 
ethnic identities were primarily migrants from the republics of the former Yugoslavia, 
having a similar historical experience and—at least partly—a similar mentality. The 
relations between the Slovenian minorities and the ethnic majorities in the neighbor-
ing countries were described in the same positive way, thus avoiding complications.
Now we have a pioneering work containing rich information about the reality of 
the interethnic relations in Slovenia with some reflections on the situation of Slove-
nian minorities abroad. Dejan Valentinčič has managed to discover, convincingly 
describe, and explain the major parameters of interethnic relations in Slovenian 
society by focusing on the situation in the municipality of Nova Gorica and adding 
a limited comparison with neighboring Gorizia in Italy. The choice is due to circum-
stances, but it is undoubtedly a lucky one. Interethnic relations in the area of Nova 
Gorica are particularly rich and interesting because of the very emergence of the 
town on green fields as an outcome of WWII. The migration due to the dissolution 
of former Yugoslavia and the following economic and political turbulences has 
enriched the mosaic of ethnic groups in the municipality. However, wisely enough, 
the study’s starting point is not the local interethnic situation in Gorizia/Nova Gorica 
but a theoretical elaboration on the fundaments of Slovenian statehood. The second 
theoretical pillar of the empirical study is the juxtaposition of strategies for integrat-
ing ethnic minorities and the multiculturalist vision about the co-existence of ethnic 
groups. This conceptual framework shapes the orientation, ends, and means of the 
empirical study. They are transparent and productive.

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The operationalization of the concepts of participation of non-Slovenians in 
the country’s economic, political, and cultural life clearly shows the search for a 
theoretical and methodological balance between the extremes of the strategies 
of assimilation and multiculturalism. The logic of the face-to-face semi-structured 
interviews and the questionnaire for polling reveals the mutual support of theory 
and the methodology of empirical research. The statistical processing of the primary 
data follows the logic of the theoretical framework and the tools prepared for the 
field study.
The first stage in the implementation of the author’s research strategy was a 
pilot study. Semi-structured interviews with relevant stakeholders were carried out 
in Nova Gorica and Gorizia. The author’s target groups included civil servants at both 
municipalities, civil servants in the employment offices and centers for social affairs, 
police officers, and administrators in schools and humanitarian organizations. On 
this basis, Dr. Valentinčič prepared the tools for the major part of the study. He 
conducted sixty semi-structured interviews with migrants from former Yugoslavia 
and their descendants. Each of the six ethnic groups was represented by ten inter-
views. Twenty-five interviews were carried out with a control group of Slovenians. 
The interviews consisted of five blocks of questions. They cover the personal status, 
form and degree of economic, political, and cultural integration, and questions 
regarding the interviewee’s minority status. This information is supplemented by the 
quantitative results of a survey of 149 non-Slovenians and 100 Slovenians from the 
control group. The questionnaire was structured in the same five blocks of questions 
as the interviews. 
The comparison of the information about Nova Gorica and Gorizia is limited to 
the qualitative study data. In the study in Gorizia, immigrants from former Yugoslavia 
are included with immigrants from Albania, Romania, Bangladesh, China, and coun-
tries from the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa. All in all, the information is based 
on forty-eight interviews with immigrants. The control group consists of eighteen 
persons. There are twelve Italians and six members of the autochthonous Slovenian 
minority. The field studies were conducted during 2015 and 2016. The analysis was 
carried out using a triangulation of methods, including calculations of communality, 
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Test for Sampling Adequacy, Bartlett’s test, variations, regres-
sions, and combining the interpretation of graphs and tables and statements from 
the interviews.
The outcome of the theoretical and empirical work is the convincing picture of 
the often-neglected ethnic diversity of Slovenian society. Fortunately, unlike many 
other local situations on the territory of former Yugoslavia, there are no signs of 
noticeable interethnic tensions and conflicts in Slovenia. Nevertheless, some poten-
tial for future conflicts can be identified. The most important indicator for this is that 
second-generation immigrants feel less integrated into Nova Gorica. Some subsoci-
eties have somewhat limited contacts and cooperation with the majority society. The 
most interesting findings and conclusions concern the three patterns of interethnic 

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integration. The level of economic integration is the highest, followed by political 
integration, whereas the level of cultural integration is the lowest.
There are hardly any conflicts between the different immigrant ethnic groups in 
Nova Gorica, while there are indications of conflicts between Italians and immigrants 
in Gorizia. In general, the interethnic integration in Gorizia is lower than in Nova 
Gorica, with one exception—the command of the majority language in Go rizia is 
better. Since the non-European immigration to Gorizia began, the relations between 
Italians and European immigrants have become less tense. Italians and members of 
the Slovenian minority in Gorizia predict the same to happen in Nova Gorica in the 
future. Still, some Italian interviewees see Southern Italians as the least favorable 
immigrants to their town.
One could only agree with the warning that this encouraging situation about 
Nova Gorica should not be interpreted in the sense that no policies for economic, 
political, and cultural integration of non-Slovenians into Slovenian society are neces-
sary. The study shows that differences in the social status, dispositions, and action 
patterns of ethnic groups in Slovenia do exist and should be carefully considered in 
the social policies. The cross-border comparison with Gorizia in Italy helps to under-
stand the situation from an additional angle and is also an important contribution 
of the book.
Dejan Valentinčič’s monograph enriches the knowledge of the ethnic compo-
sition and interethnic relations in Slovenia in the context of the highly interesting 
ethnic compositions and interethnic relations in the republics of former Yugoslavia.
Nikolai Genov