Croatia's Struggle for Democracy

Examines the development of Croatian national & political identity since the end of WWI, focusing on the 1990-1995 struggle for independence from Yugoslavia. It is argued that, contrary to the opinion of Croatian ruling politicians, Croatian independence would not have become the priority of the postcommunist restructuring if it had not been prompted by Serbia's hegemonic policies. Similar to elsewhere in East-Central Europe, opposition groups in the civil society expected to enter the political scene; the trend was aborted by the Serbian aggression & subsequent ethnonational homogenization of Croatian polity & society. The initial defensive national identity was replaced in 1992/93 with the expansionist one, because of Croatia's involvement in the partition of Bosnia. The 1995 liberation of the formerly Serb-dominated territories was accompanied by unchecked violence toward Croatian Serbs. The postwar political climate resulted in the replacement of former civil society with nongovernmental organizations & the "muddling through" strategy, in which the readiness to dispose of the authoritarianism of the ruling Croatian Democratic Alliance would depend on the opposition's united leadership. A. Devic