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A Small State Finding Its Way in the EU: Croatia and Its Approach to Brexit

As a small and new EU member state Croatia had little to contribute to Brexit, which occurred just a few years after the country’s accession to the EU. Stemming from its size, its pre-existing relations with the UK and its drive to learn to operate within the EU, Croatia is no outlier in the literature on small states’ foreign policy. This paper analyses the behaviour of Croatia during Brexit and adds to the literature on small states. First, it analyses whether and to what extent Croatia opted for one or more of the following strategies: seeking shelter, hiding or hedging during the Brexit negotiations. Second, it examines the logics underpinning the aforementioned strategies (logic of consequences vs. logic of appropriateness). Third, it scrutinizes Brexit’s impact on the Europeanisation of Croatia’s foreign and defence policies and possible advancement or undermining of this Europeanisation process. We focus on both policy- uploading and policy-downloading dimensions of Europeanisation, thus contributing to the literature on Europeanisation as such. Our research is based on existing literature, second- hand sources such as official documents and statements, and the primary data collected through semi-structured interviews with eight persons who either shaped the Croatian foreign and defence policies or were well-informed about them.

UK, EU, Brexit, Croatia, Europeanisation, coping strategy, logic of consequences, logic of appropriateness

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