Janko Prunk

Janko Prunk (born December 30 1942 in Loka pri Zidanem Mostu) is a Slovenian historian for modern history.

Prunk graduated in at the University of Ljubljana in 1966 and obtained his Master degree from the same institution in 1972. He obtained his PhD in 1976 with thesis on the subject of the relationship between the Slovenian Christian-Socialist movement and the Communist Party of Slovenia, which at the time was a somehow controversial topic. In 1984 and 1988, he was awarded the scholarships by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, which enabled him to continue his studies in Cologne and Freiburg. Later, he worked as a researcher at the University of Freiburg. From 1966 to 1995, he collaborated with the Institute for modern history in Ljubljana. He now works as a professor at the Faculty for Social Sciences of the University of Ljubljana.

He has written on analytical politology, modern history, the genesis of modern political formations, and the history of social and political thought in Slovenia. He has also written on the history of political movements in Slovenia from the end of 19th century until World War II, especially with Slovene Christian socialism and the history of Slovenian national questions.

He is a member of Institute for European History in Mainz, a senior fellow of the Center for European Integration Studies in Bonn.

He has also been actively involved in politics. As an early admirer of Jože Pučnik, he joined the Slovenian Social Democratic Union after the democratization of Slovenia. He was an active member of the Slovenian Democratic Party and served as the chairman of the Party's internal Committee for Education Policies until 2008, when he quit the for disagreements over the Government policy favouring private universities. He has since been very critial of the prime minister Janez Janša, whom he accused of being a "liberal with an authoritative touch" who aspires at becoming a "Slovenian Piłsudski". [Janko Prunk, "Janez Janša in njegova stranka po štirih letih na oblasti: L'État, c'est moi!". "Delo", 16 September 2008 (p. 5)]

From 1992 to 1993, he was the Minister without Portfolio for Slovenians abroad and Ethnic Minorities in Slovenia. In 2005, he was appointed by the Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel as president of the Slovene-Croatian Historical Commission, formed by the Government of the two countries to shed light on the history of the relations between the two Nations.

Publications

Janko Prunk has written over 350 specialized articles and several books. His book "A brief history of Slovenia: Historical background of the Republic of Slovenia" is one of the basic comprehensive works on modern Slovenian history.

Bibliography

References

External links

* [http://www.prunk.si/mediawiki/index.php/Janko Personal website]