Slovenia is a country that covers an area of land slightly smaller than New Jersey that is home to about two million people. It broke away from Yugoslavia in 1991, and its experience transitioning from a communist state to a democratic one is of interest to policy makers and scholars, because Slovenia has become one of the most successful among the post-communist countries in economic achievements and democratic consolidation. In Uncertain Path, Rudolf Martin Rizman provides a careful, detailed sociological explanation and narrative on the emergence of independent statehood and democracy in Slovenia.
In his focus on the transition from an authoritarian to a democratic regime, Rizman analyzes social processes and political issues in the context of the Third Wave of democratization, identifying Òzones of certainty and uncertainty.Ó Challenging many generally accepted ideas about small states and their transitions to democracy, this book places Slovenia's pattern of democratization in the wider regional context of eastern and central European post-communist transitions.
After careful consideration of religious, political, military, intellectual, and other socio-political stakeholders in the region, he concludes that Slovenia is irreversibly set on the course of democratization.

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