Transition of Croatia

According to Linz and Stephan, five interacting areas need to be in place before a consolidated democracy can exist in a state. First, there must be a free and lively civil society. A civil society is the arena of the polity where self-organizing groups, movements and individuals can express and articulate their values and interests relatively autonomous from the state. It can include social movements and civic associations from all strata of society, and can be a crucial vehicle in regime change . The second area is the political society, which is the arena where polity is arranged to contest the legitimate right to exercise control. It must be concerned with the development of appreciation of core institutions such as political parties, election, electoral rules, political leadership, interparty alliances and legislatures . Further, the rule of law is meant to make sure that the necessary degree of autonomy and independence of the civil and political society is kept. It must be respected and upheld, and hold consensus over the constitution and a clear hierarchy of laws, interpreted by an independent judicial system and have the support of a strong legal culture in the civil society . The fourth condition is a functioning state bureaucracy, which is essential in order to exercise basic tasks as and have the effective capacity to command, regulate and extract . Finally, the being of an economic society is crucial. A non-wartime consolidated democracy in a command economy has never existed, nor in a pure market economy. The mediation between state and market must be achieved by a set of socio-politically accepted and crafted norms, institutions and regulations. The aim of this paper is to identify Croatia’s position in transition to democracy. It will guide the reader through Croatia’s historical development in order to clarify Croatia’s path to its present situation, with an emphasis on the five arenas of democracy outlined above. It has a closer look at the developments before the First Yugoslavia, highlighting the development of the Yugoslav idea. Further it investigates both the First and Second Yugoslavia before the attention turns to the fall of Yugoslavia, the type of transition and post-transition developments in Croatia.

[...] Croatia was part of six-part federation composed of Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Tito himself was a Croat but he was surrounded mainly by the Serbian officials. He adopted careful policies to manage the national ambitions of Serbs and Croats and different religions within Yugoslavia. expression of Croat nationalist ideas (and any other nationalist ideas) in SFRJ became illegal”[44]. After the elections in November 1945 when the communist People’s Front won by 90% of votes, the monarchy was abolished and the Federative People’s Republic of Yugoslavia was established. [...]

[...] In searching for most appropriate answers, Croatia will be analyzed according to Linz and Stephan’s 5 arenas of democracy. Five arenas are the following: rule of law, political society, bureaucracy, civil society, and economic society. However, let’s first take a look at how Croatia emerged from national isolationism and became integrated into European and Atlantic structures. Since alike course of action has positive impact on political stabilization, economic reform, international relations, and business investment[82] Changing Croatian Political Climate and 2003 Parliamentary elections Parliamentary elections held in November 2003 proved that Croatia has been progressing in consolidation of democracy as the power was smoothly transferred from Ivica Racan to newly elected Prime Minister Ivo Sanader from HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union). [...]

[...] (1996): Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation: Southern Europe, South America, and Post-Communist Europe, John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore Zubrinić, Darko. The period of Croatia within ex-Yugoslavia November Communist Yugoslavia. Encyclopedia of Nations. October Croatia in the first Yugoslavia. Answers.com. November Independent State of Croatia. Answers.com. November Part 3 Bugajski, J. (2002): Political Parties of Eastern Europe, M.E. Sharpe, Armonk Cohen, L.J. (1997): Embattled democracy: postcommunist Croatia in transition; in (ed.) Dawisha, K., Parrott, B.: Politics, Power and the Struggle for Democracy in South-East Europe, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Crapmton, R.J. [...]