State Sovereignty in the Trenches: Legal Aspects of Vigilantism in Slovenia

Abstract

This article addresses the legal aspects of vigilantism in Slovenia. It aims to present to an international audience how Slovenia and its legal system reacted to the sudden appearance of anti-migrant vigilante groups, which caused a considerable shock in a country unaccustomed to such phenomena. To this end, we first define and typologize vigilantism in general terms and identify its recent manifestations in Slovenia. Next, the article outlines the divergent state responses to vigilantism from a theoretical perspective, focusing on strategies premised on the legal prohibition—e.g., legal exclusion—and prosecution of—the activities of—vigilante groups on the one hand, and the tolerance toward them and authorities’ cooperation with them, while performing official tasks, on the other. The author demonstrates how Slovenia resorted to the former. The author analyses the legislative amendments, which—according to the proponents and parliamentary majority that approved the amendments—were necessary to ensure an effective response of the state and its legal system to the threat posed to national security and sovereignty by the Styrian Guard and other anti-migrant vigilante groups. Finally, the author provides a brief analysis of the criminal conviction of the Styrian Guard leader, the key figure of vigilantism in Slovenia.