Slovenia is a nation.
Slovenia ( [ sloʊˈviːniə , _ slə - , _ - njə ] ; Slovenija [ slɔˈʋéːnija ] ) , officially the Republic of Slovenia ( Slovene : , abbr. : RS ) , is a nation state in southern Central Europe , located at the crossroads of main European cultural and trade routes . It is a parliamentary republic and a member of the United Nations , European Union , and NATO . Slovenia is a largely secularized country , but its culture and identity have been significantly influenced by Catholicism as well as Lutheranism . Afterward , it was a founding member of the Federal People 's Republic of Yugoslavia , later renamed the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia , a communist state which was the only country in the Eastern Bloc which was never part of the Warsaw Pact .