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The Role of History in Legitimizing Politics in Transition in Croatia

The liberalization of the political system in Yugoslavia during 1980s reopened the country’s “national question”. In such a context, questions concerning the recent past become an essential part of the discourse of political actors. The effects of this liberalization, which eventually led to the downfall of the communist regime, were felt in Croatia only at the end of the decade. The repressive response of the regime to the Croatian Spring in the early 1970s affected Croatian politics in such a way that the liberalization of 1980s was not felt on such a scale as in Slovenia and Serbia. At the same time, this meant that there was no serious questioning of the official communist interpretation of history. Only in late 1980s, under the effects the Yugoslav crisis and the downfall of communism in Europe did substantial liberalization in Croatia take place. Due to the Yugoslav context, the opening of the political system soon placed the national and statehood questions at the top of the agenda, along with other issues related to events from the recent past. In this regard, the interpretation of history played a major legitimizing role for the political actors during the transitional period.

political transition, Croatia in 1989/1990, political actors, history, legitimizing politics

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