Croatian Citizenship Regime and Traumatized Categories of Croatian Citizens: Serb Minority and Croatian Defenders of the Homeland War

This paper explores the developments of the contemporary Croatian citizenship regime, with particular focus on the ones that took place after Croatian accession to the EU. The first two stages of development of Croatian citizenship regime, from the 1990s until the Croatian membership to the EU, are focused on the consolidation of the status and rights dimensions of citizenship. The aftermath of the EU accession (re)introduced identity in the focus of the Croatian citizenship debates, particularly when it comes to issues of the status and rights of two categories of citizens: Serb minority and veterans of the Homeland War. This paper will argue that the dynamics of these developments is impossible to understand without: a) comprehending the specific legal tradition and political context that shaped the circumstances of the foundation of the Croatian state; b) understanding the role of the Homeland War as the symbolic foundation of the Croatian statehood; c) the development of the new statuses and categories of citizens that emerged from the constellation of this context and symbolic foundations of the state; and, finally, d) how the institutionalization of these statuses shape the context and agenda for Croatiancitizenship-related debates.