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Dealing with the Past in Electoral Manifestos: Croatia 1990-2020

Croatia gained independence after undergoing a process of triple transition – the fall of communist rule, the dissolution of Yugoslavia, and the 1991-1995 war of independence. The traumatic experiences of the 20th century characterized by wars and several autocratic political regimes exerted substantial influence on the nation- and state-building process during the 1990s. Different interpretations and contested narratives about recent historical events influenced almost every segment of Croatian society. During the last thirty years, political officeholders and political parties extensively used history as a means of voter mobilization, legitimization of own policy positions, as well as delegitimization of political opponents. This was especially evident during electoral campaigns, as well through official and unofficial commemorations of World War II and the Croatian War of Independence. Party competition and voter behavior consistently revolved around historical and cultural cleavages, rather than differences in social and economic policy. Along with the cleavage separating traditional and practicing Catholics from secular agnostics and atheists, parallel and opposing cultures of memory and historical narratives play the most prominent role in party politics. Opposing narratives include three main historical chapters. The first one pertains to World War II and different evaluations of the nature and legacy of the antifascist Partisan Movement led by the Communist Party and the wartime Quisling puppet regime of Independent State of Croatia, led by the Ustaša Movement. This is particularly evident in the way political parties commemorate key events related to World War II, as well as combat and civilian victims connected to both warring sides. The second pair of narratives is related to the era of socialist Yugoslavia under communist rule and opposing views of the nature of the regime, the extent of human rights violations and the relations between Croatia and other constituent Yugoslav republics. Finally, the third chapter of conflicting visions of the past covers the 1990s period, with several points of contention. These include the Croatian War of Independence and its effects, the quality of the political regime during the 1990s, as well as Croatia’s role in the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In contrast to other post-communist countries among European Union member states, the Croatian party system is still dominated by the same parties which were major forces at the beginning of democratic transition – the Croatian Democratic Union (center-right) and the Social Democratic Party (center-left). The goal of this paper is to explore the role of contemporary history and references to the past in electoral manifestos in Croatia. The paper makes use of the CMP/MARPOR dataset to undertake a multi-level analysis of the use of the past in electoral context. First, it takes a look at changes in the frequency of references to the past in the three-decade period on the party system level, considering all relevant parliamentary parties. Then it looks a changes in emphasis within the manifestos of the two major parties. Finally, by employing a more interpretative, qualitative angle, the paper compares changes in narratives employed by major parties in their electoral manifestos.

electoral manifestos ; political parties ; dealing with the past ; memory ; Croatia

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