Anton Gosar

The problems of the Italo-Croato-Slovene border delimitation in the Northern Adriatic

The Adriatic Sea, and its northern part in particular, is a highly illustrative example of the changing political geography of the sea. In the 1990s the changing political map was influenced by the break-up of Yugoslavia. As a consequence two successor states, Croatia and Slovenia, started delimitation of their common and new international border. In spite of the fact that a joint boundary commission managed to resolve disputes along almost the entire length of the land border, there are several disputed points remaining as well as unresolved issues of maritime delimitation. The authors analysed the existing claims of the two countries and suggested a possible solution. Regardless of existing problems, there are favourable conditions to develop intensive cross-border cooperation.

The Shatter Belt and the European Core - A Geopolitical Discussion on the Untypical Case of Slovenia

Europe in general is in a great state of change. States uniting with difficulty, states collapsing in pain, newly freed states struggling for new political, economic, and social identities - it is a region in a true transition. The paper is focussing primarily on the European Shatter Belt, formerly known as ‘Eastern Europe’. This is in fact a subset of new and old nation-states in the region of Central and Eastern Europe or, to use an older, but increasingly popular term, ‘Mitteleuropa’ (Ruppert, 1997). ‘Mitteleuropa’ is reemerging from the commotion resulting from the collapse of the old political order - communism. Our focus in this presentation is on personal experiences and observations. We will note the progress and positive dimensions of the change (transition) in the light of Europes and NATO expansion. We will address the issues at two scales- at the international/national level and then, at the level of a Slovenian case study. This will enable us to discuss the ‘natural system’ of the process of enlargement and incorporate supporting material of geographical, historical and social nature as envisioned by Hartshorne. Since the collapse of communism, the region has experienced some serious traumas that vary in intensity across the region. Probably the greatest pain has been experienced in the former Yugoslavia - an estimated 150,000 have perished and about 2.5 millions have been displaced within and outside the country. Chaos still exists despite the ‘protectorate arrangement’ in Bosnia. The hot spot Kosovo has yet to be calmed down. In parts of the region economic pain has been considerable. Every state of ‘Mitteleuropa’ experienced absolute economic decline from 1990–1995; high inflation rates, increased economic inequality, high levels of poverty, increase of crime and more. Economic and psychological stress effect demographic processes. Things have partly changed to the better in the most recent years. The adoption of capitalism and a democratic political system has been painful, disorienting, and is still in progress. The democratization process varies considerably across the region and in some states is in jeopardy. Reformed communist parties had staged a ‘restoration’ in nearly all of the states - in some winning the control of the government, in others gaining strong and influential positions, or both. But, two major processes promise future democracy, rule of law, wealth and stability in general. This is the decision of the member states of the European Union and NATO to incorporate some/several states of the Shatter Belt into their own zone of protection and/or federation. Nation-states of the region tend to follow the EU Agenda 2000 rules with Slovenia one of the first!

Structural impact of international tourism in Yugoslavia

This paper outlines the structure of international tourism in Yugoslavia and then discusses thevarious impacts its development has had, notably changes in the population structure. The growth of international tourism has enabled a nontraumatic restructuring of the younger generation island and coastal population away from fishing and farming to employment in tourism. Tourism has revived some Yugoslav regions, especially the Adriatic Coast, in a demographic and economic sense and has made possible further development.

The Recreational Use and Abuse of the Coastline of Slovenia

With 46.6 km of the coastline, the Republic of Slovenia is a Mediterranean and European nation-state with the most limited access to the sea. Therefore, the use of it should be of the highest state priority. The core of coastal tourism is located in and around Portorož-Portorose, in the commune of Piran-Pirano. Other parts of the coast have been primarily devoted to other businesses, urban structures and port/communication infrastructures. Intensive tourism is located on close to 9% of the coastline, whereas elsewhere, on almost one third of the Slovenian coastline, tourism activities are a “by-product” of the urban way of life, port facilities and other commercial and non-commercial activities. Different acts of nature/culture-conservation have made several coastline areas -just because of it - attractive, like the “Strunjanski klif” (the highest cliff, made out of the flysh (stone), on the coasts of the Adriatic) and the salt-pans of Secovlje (“Secxoveljske soline”).

Grenzüberschreitende raumwirksame Leitbilder dargestellt an Beispielen der Grenzräume Sloweniens in Jugoslawien

Zusammenfassung. — Sloweniens Grenzraume haben innerhalb Jugoslawiens eine spezifische Rolle. Die Offnung der Grenzen (in den sechsziger Jahren) hatte die wirtschaftlich starken Gebiete gefestigt, in uberwiegend peripheren jedoch Abwanderungen gefordert. Die polyzentrische Entwicklung, als eine Ansdrucksform der in Slowenieneigenartigen regionalen Politik, hatte in den siebziger Jahren zu einer Stabilisierung aller Grenzgebiete gefuhrt. Sie sind nun belebende Akteure der zweistaatlichen Beziehungen aber auch Trager inner jugoslawischer Entwicklung. Es haben sich dadurch drei Typen der Grenzraume gegrundet : die durch ihre Intensitat der grenzuberschreitenden Beziehungen bekannten transnationalen Grenzgebiete, die Grenzraume der inselartigen, besonders an Grenzubergangen lozierten Wirtschaftsballung und die Grenzraume die durch die vorhergegangene Depopulation zum Absterben verurteilt sind.