Pavel Gantar, also known as Pavle Gantar (born 26 October 1949) is a

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

and sociologist. Between 2008 and 2011, he served as speaker of the

Slovenian National Assembly The National Assembly ( sl, Državni zbor Republike Slovenije, or ), is the general representative body of Slovenia. According to the Constitution of Slovenia and the Constitutional Court of Slovenia, it is the major part of the distinctively ...

. From February 2012 and to their dissolvation in 2015, he has been the president of the

social liberal Social liberalism (german: Sozialliberalismus, es, socioliberalismo, nl, Sociaalliberalisme), also known as new liberalism in the United Kingdom, modern liberalism, or simply liberalism in the contemporary United States, left-liberalism ...

extra-parliamentary party ''

Zares Zares – Social Liberals ( sl, Zares – socialno-liberalni) was a social-liberal political party in Slovenia. Its first president was Gregor Golobič, former Secretary General of the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia and former close advisor to the ...

''.

Early life and education

Gantar was born in the

Upper Carniola Upper Carniola ( sl, Gorenjska; it, Alta Carniola; german: Oberkrain) is a traditional region of Slovenia, the northern mountainous part of the larger Carniola region. The centre of the region is Kranj, while other urban centers include Jeseni ...

n village of Gorenja Vas near

Škofja Loka Škofja Loka (; german: Bischoflack) is a town in Slovenia. It is the economic, cultural, educational, and administrative center of the Municipality of Škofja Loka in Upper Carniola. It has about 12,000 inhabitants. Geography Škofja Loka lies a ...

, Slovenia, in what was then

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...

. After finishing a professional school for

carpentry Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenters tr ...

, he decided to enroll to the university. After passing the entry exams, he was accepted by the Faculty for Political Sciences at the

University of Ljubljana The University of Ljubljana ( sl, Univerza v Ljubljani, , la, Universitas Labacensis), often referred to as UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 39,000 enrolled students. History Beginnings Although certain ...

, where he studied

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

. During his student years, Gantar was actively involved in student activities. In 1971, he was among the co-founder of the radical alternative student group ''November 13th'', which included among other the famous philosopher

Mladen Dolar Mladen Dolar (born 29 January 1951) is a Slovene philosopher, psychoanalyst, cultural theorist and film critic. Dolar was born in Maribor as the son of the literary critic Jaro Dolar. In 1978 he graduated in Philosophy and French language at ...

. After graduating in 1974, he became an assistant professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Ljubljana. In 1976, he joined the editorial board of the '' Journal for the Critique of Science'' (Časopis za kritiko znanosti, ČKZ), together with people like Mladen Dolar,

Slavoj Žižek Slavoj Žižek (, ; ; born 21 March 1949) is a Slovenian philosopher, cultural theorist and public intellectual. He is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, visiting professor at New Y ...

, and

Rado Riha Rado Riha (born 8 October 1948) is a Slovene philosopher. He is a senior research fellow and currently the head of thInstitute of Philosophy Centre for Scientific Research at the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, and coordinator of the p ...

. In 1984, he studied at the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the an ...

, where he became acquainted with the liberal critique of

Marxism Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

. He became interested in the

classical liberal Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics; civil liberties under the rule of law with especial emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, economic ...

thought and was especially influenced by the works of the Slovene-born British liberal economist

Ljubo Sirc Ljubo Sirc CBE (19 April 1920 – 1 December 2016) was a British- Slovene economist and prominent dissident from Yugoslavia. Life and work Sirc was born in Kranj, then part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, in a wealthy and reno ...

, who strongly criticized the Yugoslav economic model. Upon returning to

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

, he was appointed as the chairman of the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

cell at the Faculty of Social Sciences. In 1985, he used this position to defend the essayist

Spomenka Hribar Spomenka Hribar (born 25 January 1941) is a Slovenian author, philosopher, sociologist, politician, columnist, and public intellectual. She was one of the most influential Slovenian intellectuals in the 1980s, and was frequently called "the Firs ...

, who was accused of denigration of the

Yugoslav People's Liberation War World War II in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia began on 6 April 1941, when the country was swiftly conquered by Axis forces and partitioned between Germany, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria and their client regimes. Shortly after Germany attacked the U ...

because an essay in which she publicly denounced the mass killings of the

Slovene Home Guard The Slovene Home Guard ( sl, Slovensko domobranstvo, SD; german: Slowenische Landeswehr) was a Slovene anti- Partisan military organization that was active during the 1943–1945 German occupation of the formerly Italian-occupied Province of Lju ...

after World War II. Because of this stand, Gantar was expelled from the

Communist Party of Slovenia The League of Communists of Slovenia ( sl, Zveza komunistov Slovenije, ZKS; sh, Savez komunista Slovenije) was the Slovenian branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, the sole legal party of Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1989. It was establis ...

. In the late 1980s, he was among the first scholars of contemporary underground social movements in Slovenia and Yugoslavia, together with

Frane Adam Frane Adam (born 23 November 1948) is a Slovenian sociologist, editor and former dissident political activist. During the early 1970s, he was one of the leaders of the student protest movement in the Socialist Republic of Slovenia. Adam was bo ...

and

Gregor Tomc Gregor Tomc also known as Grega Tomc (born 3 February 1952) is a Slovenian sociologist, musician and activist. In the late 1970s and 1980s, he was the founder and member of the Slovenian punk rock band ''Pankrti''. Biography Tomc was born i ...

. He was actively involved in the so-called

Slovenian Spring The history of Slovenia chronicles the period of the Slovenian territory from the 5th century BC to the present. In the Early Bronze Age, Proto- Illyrian tribes settled an area stretching from present-day Albania to the city of Trieste. The Slo ...

, the mass movement that brought to the democratization and independence of Slovenia. He was among the first to denounce the arrest of four journalist in the

JBTZ-trial The JBTZ trial or the JBTZ affair ( sl, afera JBTZ), also known as the Ljubljana trial () or the Trial against the Four () was a political trial held in a military court in Slovenia, then part of Yugoslavia in 1988. The defendants, Janez Janša, ...

and was member of the

Committee for the Defence of Human Rights The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights ( sl, Odbor za varstvo človekovih pravic) was a civil society organization in Slovenia, which functioned during the so-called Slovenian Spring between 1988 and 1990. It was founded in Ljubljana on 31 ...

, the central platform that led the democratization process in Slovenia between 1988 and 1990.

Political career

In 1989, he obtained his PhD in sociology at the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb ( hr, Sveučilište u Zagrebu, ; la, Universitas Studiorum Zagrabiensis) is the largest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of ...

. In 1990, he joined the Liberal Democratic Party. The same year, he was elected to the

Parliament of Slovenia The Slovenian Parliament ( sl, Slovenski parlament) is the informal designation of the general representative body of the Slovenian nation and the legislative body of the Republic of Slovenia. According to the Constitution of Slovenia, the gene ...

in the first free elections held in Slovenia after World War II. Between 1994 and 2000, he served as the Minister of Environment in the cabinet of

Janez Drnovšek Janez Drnovšek (; 17 May 1950 – 23 February 2008) was a Slovenian liberal politician, President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia (1989–1990), Prime Minister of Slovenia (1992–2002, with a short break in 2000) and President of Slovenia (200 ...

. In 2001, he became the Minister of Information Society in the last cabinet led by Janez Drnovšek and later by

Anton Rop Anton Rop (born 27 December 1960) is a Slovenian politician. Currently, he is a vice-president of European Investment Bank. He was Prime Minister of Slovenia, from 2002 to 2004. Until 2005 he was also the president of the Liberal Democratic Part ...

. In 2004, the

Liberal Democracy of Slovenia Liberal Democracy of Slovenia ( sl, Liberalna demokracija Slovenije, LDS) is a social-liberal political party in Slovenia. Between 1992 and 2004 it was the largest (and ruling) party in the country. In the 2011 Slovenian parliamentary election, i ...

was defeated by the centre-right

Slovenian Democratic Party The Slovenian Democratic Party ( sl, Slovenska demokratska stranka, SDS), formerly the Social Democratic Party of Slovenia ( sl, Socialdemokratska stranka Slovenije, SDSS), is a conservative political party in Slovenia. It has been described as ...

. Nevertheless, Gantar was elected to the

National Assembly of Slovenia The National Assembly ( sl, Državni zbor Republike Slovenije, or ), is the general representative body of Slovenia. According to the Constitution of Slovenia and the Constitutional Court of Slovenia, it is the major part of the distinctively ...

, where he served as an opposition MP until 2008. In 2007, he joined the newly formed

'' party led by

Gregor Golobič Gregor Golobič (born January 20, 1964) is a Slovenian politician. Between 2007 and 2012 he was president of the left liberal party ''Zares'' and between November 2008 and June 2011, he served as Minister for Science and Higher Education of Slo ...

. In 2008, he was re-elected to the Lower House of the Slovenian Parliament. Soon afterwards, he was elected as its speaker, succeeding

France Cukjati France Cukjati (born February 15, 1943) is a Slovenian politician, physician, theologian and a former Jesuit. Till 21 December 2011, he served as deputy speaker of the National Assembly of Slovenia. He was born in the village of Šentgotard nea ...

. Following the exit of the party ''Zares'' from the ruling coalition, Gantar resigned from his position in September 2011 and was succeeded by Ljubo Germič. In February 2012, he replaced Gregor Golobič as the president of ''Zares''. After his party received only 0.91% of votes in

European Parliament election Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are considered the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's. Unti ...

, he resigned as party president.RTVSLO.si - Volitve s čela Zares odnesle tudi Pavla Gantarja
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References

Sources

Biography of Pavle Gantar on the webportal "Slovenian Spring", run by the National Museum of Modern History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gantar, Pavel Liberal Democracy of Slovenia politicians Slovenian sociologists Presidents of the National Assembly (Slovenia) 1949 births Living people Environment ministers of Slovenia League of Communists of Slovenia politicians Zares politicians University of Ljubljana alumni Academic staff of the University of Ljubljana People from the Municipality of Škofja Loka