Formerly part of the Socialist republic of Yugoslavia, Slovenia declared itself an independent state on 25 June 1991 and was internationally recognized on the 15 January 1992. The declaration of independence created a serious military crisis, following the involvement of troops from Federal Yugoslavia. The crisis was, however, soon resolved with the withdrawal of federal troops in October 1991. Since the 1992 elections, top positions in the government have been held by an alternating succession of right-wing, left-wing and liberal politicians. The country joined the European Union on 1 May 2004 and adopted the Euro on 1 January 2007. On 21 December 2007 Slovenia became a Schengen country and the historic Italo-Slovenian border between the Italian city of Gorizia and the Karst Plateau was opened up. The dissolution of the former Yugoslavia left several questions unanswered between the different republics which had formed part of it. The dispute with Croatia over the border line in the Bay of Piran is still reason for tension after Croatia refused to apply the Hague’s arbitration verdict. In 2018, Slovenia turned to the EU Court of Justice, which however ruled (31 January 2020) that it had no jurisdiction in the matter, to be resolved bilaterally.
According to the 1991 Constitution, the President of the Republic is elected by direct suffrage for a five-year term and can only be re-elected once. There are two houses of parliament: the National Assembly is made up of 90 members elected for four years (among which are representatives of the Italian and Hungarian minorities) and the Council of State which consists of 40 members elected for a five-year term by indirect suffrage (representing local organizations and social and economic institutions).
The President of the Republic appoints the Prime Minister, who must be approved by the Parliament.

Defence and justice.
With the abolition of military service in 2003, Slovenian armed forces have become a professional army. The legal system is based on that of Continental Europe.

Economic situation.
The economy has been affected by the pandemic: the GDP fell by 5.5% (2020). Estimates for 2021 (+3.7%) are expected to bring growth due to investments made by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.

Primary sector.
Agriculture is quite limited as there is little land appropriate for farming cereal crops, nevertheless potatoes, sugar beet and various fruits are grown (especially grapes). Livestock farming is reasonably well developed (cattle and pigs).

Secondary sector.
Lignite is the main mining resource. More than a third of Slovenia’s power comes from the Krško nuclear plant (shared with Croatia). New reactors are being studied. Industry is quite varied, the main sectors are chemicals (sulfuric acid, caustic soda and tannin), metal-working (aluminium at Kidričevo, lead at Mežica, zinc at Celje), iron and steel (at Jesenice, Štore and Ravne) and machinery (at Novo mesto).
The most advanced and competitive sectors are telecommunications and pharmaceuticals. There are important paper mills and production of furniture, foodstuffs and textiles is noteworthy.

Tertiary sector.
The main trading partners are Germany and Italy. There is a stock exchange in Ljubljana.

Main exports (M US$ - 2017) electrical and electronic equipment 3 477, machinery 3 118, cars 2 996, pharmaceuticals 2 770, iron and steel 1 638, vehicles and parts thereof 1 544, plastics 1 265, aluminium 1 024, furniture and accessories 900, petroleum products 893, timber 790, chemicals 680, paper 648, technical and electro-medical appliances 638, electric energy 410, dyes 395, tyres 336, tools and implements 267, cosmetics 266, synthetic and artificial fibres and yarns 261

Tourism. The main attractions are the seaside resorts (Koper and Piran), winter sports resorts (Kranjska Gora), spas (Radenci and Rogaška Slatina) and karst cave system (Postojna).

Education and research.
Education is compulsory and free between the ages of 6 and 15. In the Hungarian-Slovenian area education is bilingual, in the Slovenian-Italian area it can be either in Slovenian or in Italian.