The Serbs in Slovenia: A new minority

The breakdown of the former Yugoslavia has resulted in formation of new independent states while the former co-citizens and constitutive people have found themselves in new roles. Some have become a majority while some have become a minority, with an aspiration to affirm the status in the public sphere. As a country with a large numbers of immigrants from the former Yugoslavia, Slovenia is facing a challenge of the confirmation of ethnic pluralism within its borders, along with solutions and appropriate places for 'new' minorities (the usual appellation for ethnic groups formed by the members of the former Yugoslavia, where the Serbs are outnumbering the rest). At the same time, the new minorities face a challenge of constitution foundation of their own associations, that is, formation of their own identity and public affirmation in the new context. This paper discusses these ongoing processes with a special attention to the Serbian ethnic group.