Peter Jambrek (born 14 January 1940) 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 ...

n sociologist, jurist,

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 ...

and intellectual. He is considered among the fathers of the current Slovenian Constitution and among the most influential

public intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or ...

s in Slovenia.

Life

He was born in

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 are ...

, then part of

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

, and attended high school in Maribor and in Ljubljana. He studied law 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 ...

, graduating in 1962. In his student years, he was active in student organizations and was among the editors of the student journal ''

Tribuna ''Tribuna'' (russian: Трибуна) is a weekly Russian newspaper that focuses largely on industry and the energy sector. History Tribunas published its first publication in July 1969. Until 1990, the newspaper titled the ''Sotsialisticheska ...

''. He obtained his MA in sociology in 1966, and joined 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 ...

the same year. Between 1968 and 1971, he studied sociology at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

, obtaining his PhD in 1971.

Academic and political career

In the early 1970s, Jambrek was close to the reformist wing of the Slovenian Communist Party, led by Stane Kavčič and Ernest Petrič. After the authoritarian turn in the

Yugoslav Communist Party The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, mk, Сојуз на комунистите на Југославија, Sojuz na komunistite na Jugoslavija known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, sl, Komunistična partija Jugoslavije mk ...

in 1972-73, which also affected Slovenia, Jambrek withdrew to purely academic work. He obtained professorship at the Faculty of Law and at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Ljubljana. He studied

conflict theory Conflict may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Conflict'' (1921 film), an American silent film directed by Stuart Paton * ''Conflict'' (1936 film), an American boxing film starring John Wayne * ''Conflict'' (1937 film) ...

and published a sociological study on rituals and rebellions. Between 1973 and 1975, he taught at the

University of Zambia The University of Zambia (UNZA) is a public university located in Lusaka, Zambia. It is Zambia's largest and oldest learning institution. The university was established in 1965 and officially opened to the public on 12 July 1966. The language of ...

in Lusaka. In 1975, he published a comparative study on the transformation of tribal societies into nation states. Between 1975 and 1982, he published several books analyzing the structure of political decisions in Yugoslav local government. In the 1980s, Jambrek started collaborating with dissident intellectuals around the journal '' Nova revija''. He rose to prominence in 1987, when he published a thorough legal study on the possibilities of

n secession from

in the collective volume

Contributions for a Slovenian National Program Contributions to the Slovene National Program ( sl, Prispevki za slovenski nacionalni program), also known as Nova revija 57 or 57th edition of Nova revija ( sl, 57. številka Nove revije) was a special issue of the Slovene opposition intellectua ...

. In 1989, he left the Communist Party and became a founding member of the Slovenian Democratic Union, one of the first democratic non-Communist parties organized during the

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 ...

, 1988-1990. After the victory of the anti-Communist

DEMOS coalition Democratic Opposition of Slovenia, also known as the DEMOS (in Slovenian: ''Demokratična opozicija Slovenije'') was a coalition of centre-right political parties, created by an agreement between the Slovenian Democratic Union, the Social Democrat ...

in the first Slovenian free elections in spring 1990, he was appointed member of the Slovenian Constitutional Court. In the years 1990-1991, he became one of the foremost members of the Constitutional Committee that wrote the new Slovenian Constitution. In 1993, he was appointed member of the European Court for Human Rights in Strasbourg. Between June and November 2000, he served as Minister of the Interior in the short-lived centre right government of

Andrej Bajuk Andrej Bajuk, also known in Spanish as Andrés Bajuk (18 October 1943 – 16 August 2011) was a Slovene politician and economist. He served briefly as Prime Minister of Slovenia in the year 2000, and was Minister of Finance in the centre-right g ...

. In 2004, he was among the co-founders of the

liberal conservative Liberal conservatism is a political ideology combining conservative policies with liberal stances, especially on economic issues but also on social and ethical matters, representing a brand of political conservatism strongly influenced by li ...

platform Rally for the Republic, and served as its chairman until 2008. Peter Jambrek was the editor to the European Public Hearing on "Crimes Committed by Totalitarian Regimes" organised by Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

(January–June 2008) and the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

. Despite never being its member, he was supportive of the

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 ...

until October 2011 when he voiced his sympathy for the newly established liberal centrist

Gregor Virant's Civic List Civic List ( sl, Državljanska lista, DL) is an inactive classical liberalism, classical-liberal extra-parliamentary list of political parties in Slovenia, political party in Slovenia, led by Gregor Virant. LGV won 8.37% of the vote at the early ...

. At the presidential election in 2022 he voiced his support to Lacanian psychoanalyst and philosopher Nina Krajnik. Krajnik stated that Jambrek opened her eyes to presidential candidacy.

End of political participation

Jambrek had a fallout with the

(SDS) in 2011. After voicing his support for the Civic List, he was accused of being an agent of the Yugoslav secret police, In an interview published by Planet Siol.net, Jambrek characterized the SDS as a party of "

humiliated and insulted ''Humiliated and Insulted'' (russian: Униженные и оскорблённые, ''Unizhennye i oskorblyonnye'') — also known in English as ''The Insulted and Humiliated'', ''The Insulted and the Injured'' or ''Injury and Insult'' — is ...

class, who never had privileges and who are frustrated because of that" He is not involved in politics anymore.An interview with Jambrek

Mladina ''Mladina'' (English: Youth) is a Slovenian weekly left-wing political and current affairs magazine. Since the 1920s, when it was first published, it has become a voice of protest against those in power. Today, ''Mladinas weekly issues are dis ...

, 16 December 2012, Ljubljana.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jambrek, Peter Constitutional court judges Judges of the European Court of Human Rights Slovenian sociologists Lawyers from Ljubljana Slovenian Democratic Union politicians Interior ministers of Slovenia Politicians from Ljubljana University of Ljubljana alumni University of Chicago alumni Academic staff of the University of Ljubljana 1940 births Living people League of Communists of Slovenia politicians 20th-century Slovenian judges Slovenian judges of international courts and tribunals University of Zambia faculty