Democracy in Croatia: From stagnant 1990s to rapid change 2000–2011

Finn, Victoria

doi:10.1177/0192512119863140

Cited by 4 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…The period was marked by the dominant role of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), which remained in power for the entire decade. Such conditions prevented proper democratic consolidation and resulted in deficient democratic outcomes (Dolenec, 2013;Maldini, 2015;Finn, 2019). After the 2000 parliamentary elections, Croatia obtained a new government and substantially changed its political architecture.…”

Section: Introduction and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…After the 2000 parliamentary elections, Croatia obtained a new government and substantially changed its political architecture. This, coupled with the start of the EU accession process, demanding further legal and institutional changes, contributed to rapid progress in its democratic growth and consolidation (Finn, 2019). The culmination of this positive trend was the EU accession in July 2013.…”

Section: Introduction and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rethinking representative democracy in Croatia

Butković

2024

Front. Polit. Sci.

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The article analyses the development of representative democracy in Croatia from its independence to today. During the 1990s, Croatia changed its electoral system several times and had a bicameral parliament. With the constitutional changes implemented in 2001, the legislative power was organized on a unicameral principle. At the same time, the previous semi-presidential system was replaced by a parliamentary one. These changes represent only the basic framework within which representative democracy in Croatia developed over time. An important milestone in this development was the introduction of preferential voting at the national elections in 2015, which allowed the voters to vote for a particular list and a specific candidate on that list. According to some, this improved the problematic state of inner-party democracy, although, for others, the reform was not far-reaching enough. Given that representative democracy does not function in a vacuum, the article also considers the impact of direct democracy on the functioning of representative democracy in Croatia. Referring to the Croatian experience, it argues that this complementary form of democracy had a positive impact on the quality of representative democracy in the country. Nevertheless, in the face of representative democracy in Croatia, many open questions still need to be addressed. The most important one is how to increase the turnout in the elections, which is still comparatively low and arguably related to the low trust in politics.

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Section: Introduction and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introduction and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rethinking representative democracy in Croatia

Butković

2024

Front. Polit. Sci.

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“…Regardless of which party had undertaken them, electoral reforms during 1990s did not contribute in any way to consolidation of democracy and resulted in deficient democratic outcomes, with the institutionalisation of semi-authoritarian and illiberal democracy (Dolenec, 2013;Finn, 2019;Fisher, 2006). 1 Electoral engineering caused serious disputes among political actors during the whole decade and fostered instrumental party strategies prior to each election.…”

Section: Electoral Reforms In the 1990s: Instruments Of Partisan Self...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a result, the broad centre-left coalition of opposition parties, with the backbone alliance formed between Social Democrats (SDP) and Social Liberals (HSLS) defeated HDZ in parliamentary and presidential elections in January 2000. These events were a key milestone that marked a change from the dominant party system to the multiparty system of moderate pluralism, opening the window of opportunity for consolidating democratic institutions and practice (Finn, 2019).…”

Section: The Introduction Of the Pr System In 1999: Effects On The Pa...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Democratic Consolidation and Electoral System Change in Croatia: What Is Wrong with the Proportional Representation?

Čakar

Čular

2022

Political Studies Review

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This article focuses on the politics of electoral system change and its effects on the process of democratic consolidation in Croatia. After the first decade of democratisation when electoral rules were strategically engaged in order to secure one-party domination, the consensual introduction of proportional representation in 1999 marked the start of the full-scale consolidation of democracy. However, after only a decade, when faced with strong pressure caused by a deep economic recession and omnipresent political corruption, democracy in Croatia started to deteriorate, followed by significantly lower levels of trust in representative institutions and widespread citizen disaffection with the functioning of democracy. The proportional representation system was identified as the main cause of the crisis of Croatian democracy, raising strong critical voices asking for its reform or even replacement. The Croatian case thus shows that the interplay between electoral institutions and democratic (de)consolidation is far from being straightforward.

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“…Coupled with the subsequent constitutional changes, the PR deployed positive effects by reducing the polarisation (Nikić Čakar D and Krašovec A 2021), in a context where the coalition is the norm. At the same time, when democracy in Croatia started to deteriorate due to negative economic circumstances and increasing low levels of trust in representative institutions and widespread citizens’ disaffection with the functioning of democracy, the electoral system was identified as the main cause of the crisis (Finn, 2021). Yet, the adoption of the preferential voting did not impact within a party system characterised with stable and dominant role of established party identities.…”

Section: Cases and Data: A Comparisonmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Process of Democratisation, the Political Parties and the Electoral Systems in the Western Balkans (1990–2020)

Passarelli

2022

Political Studies Review

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At the end of the twentieth century, the transition from non-democratic regimes has been the most important political event in the Western Balkans. The fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 paved the way to the sudden collapse and breakdown of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe and in the Western Balkans, albeit some of them did already show a growing decline. Despite the variation in terms of institutional framework and electoral systems, the Western Balkan countries do present difference in some aspects of the political system but not for all the variables considered. The different scenarios that involved the Western Balkan countries during the armed conflicts have generated often negative outcomes in terms of democratic performances, or better have exacerbated persistent resistances to the democratic strengthening from the political actors. The factors beyond these different patterns can be indicated in three main areas: (1) the type of democratic transition and the role of the different actors in the process, (2) the influence of the political parties and their genetic features and (3) finally, considering the context, the impact of the war in the country

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Democracy in Croatia: From stagnant 1990s to rapid change 2000–2011

Cited by 4 publications

References 27 publications

Rethinking representative democracy in Croatia

Rethinking representative democracy in Croatia

Democratic Consolidation and Electoral System Change in Croatia: What Is Wrong with the Proportional Representation?

The Process of Democratisation, the Political Parties and the Electoral Systems in the Western Balkans (1990–2020)

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