BORIS JESIH

Boris Jesih was born in Maribor in 1956. In 1980, he graduated from the Faculty of Social Sciences in Ljubljana with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science. Since 1980, he has been employed at the Institute for Ethnic Studies in Ljubljana, where he acquired the title Senior Scientific Researcher. He received his master's degree from the Faculty of Social Sciences in Ljubljana in 1992 with his master’s thesis entitled “Austrian Political Parties and Minority Issues”. In 2003, he successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled “Political Participation of Ethnic Minorities – the Case of the Slovene Minority in Carinthia” at the Faculty of Social Sciences. Since 2006, he has been lecturing at the University of Primorska as an Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies. He has also given a number of lectures at the Alpen-Adria University of Klagenfurt as a visiting professor.

As a researcher, he has conducted a number of independent studies on the situation of the Slovene minority in Austria and aspects of political participation of ethnic minorities. He has also conducted research studies on the topics of neo-Nazism and “new social movements” in Austria, as well as on the current situation of ethnic minorities in Slovenia.

He participated in the project entitled Medetnični odnosi v slovenskem etničnem prostoru (Inter-Ethnic Relations in Slovene Ethnic Territory), he was head of the targeted research project entitled Narodne manjšine v medetničnih odnosih po vstopu Slovenije v EU (National Minorities and Inter-Ethnic Relations after Slovenia’s entry into the EU) and he also participated in a number of other projects.

He is the co-author and co-editor of the Slovenian report on the situation of national minorities in the Alpen-Adria region and he has edited a number of publications in the field of minority issues. From 1992-2008, he was editor for central Slovenia’s journal named Razprave in gradivo (Treatises and Documents), which addresses minority issues. He is the co-author of several scientific monographs and the author of numerous articles on ethnic minorities, which have been published both at home and abroad. He was a member of the Slovenian-Austrian Committee of Experts that deals with relations between the two countries and he was also co-editor of the collection of scientific papers that resulted through the work of the Slovenes in the committee. During the period of 2008-2011, he served as State Secretary for the Government Office of the Republic of Slovenia for Slovenians Abroad. And on 21 March 2013, he was re-appointed State Secretary for the Government Office of the Republic of Slovenia for Slovenians Abroad. 

Since 14 March 2014, he has been acting as State Secretary at the Pime Minister's office.