Dr Dimitrij Rupel was born on April 7, 1946 in Ljubljana. In 1970 he graduated in comparative literature and sociology at the University of Ljubljana. During this time he spent a year (1966-1967) at the University of Essex in Great Britain. In 1971/72 he studied at Brandeis University in Boston, USA where he received a PhD in sociology. During this time his literary, journalistic and critical writings were finding publishers. He also worked as a translator and editor. Due to political difficulties, he was not allowed to lecture at the University of Ljubljana and was unable to advance his career. In 1977/1978 he was a lecturer at Queen's University in Canada, in 1985 at the New School for Social Research in New York, and in 1989 at Cleveland State University.
In the 1980s he joined other writers and intellectuals in initiating and editing the 'alternative' Nova Revija that published the 'Slovenian National Programme' in 1987 and confronted the communist authorities of the time. Dr Rupel and his associates founded and led the Slovene Democratic Alliance, which in 1990 prior to the first democratic election formed an alliance with other anti-communist parties to form DEMOS (Democratic Opposition of Slovenia). DEMOS won the first election and Dr Rupel became the first Minister of Foreign Affairs of independent Slovenia in the first Slovenian democratic government. In this role he fundamentally contributed to the international acclamation of the new country. He went on to become a deputy of the National Assembly, mayor of Ljubljana (1995-1997) and the Slovenian Ambassador to the USA (1997-2000). Dr Rupel has been the Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2000 (with two brief interruptions under different governments). As the Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2005 he also took on various duties as the head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
In 1992 he became a professor at the University of Ljubljana. In recent years he has had several articles on international relations and foreign policy published. Dr Rupel is a member of many Slovenian and international associations such as PEN, AAASS, the Slovenian Writers' Association, and the Slovenian Sociological Association. He is a member of the Slovenian Democratic Party.
He speaks fluent English, German, Italian and French.
