engleski

Contradictory tendencies of youth political culture in Croatia: Unexpected anomalies or expected answer to social crisis?

Successful democratic consolidation in post- socialist societies depends, among other things, on citizens' political culture, young generation included. Moreover, civic engagement of young people today and in the future is one of the guarantors of the existence and development of democratic order, which points to necessity of gaining the scientific insight into young people’s political culture. In this paper, political values, institutional trust and participation are used as relevant dimensions of civic political culture. The analysis is based on quantitative data collected in empirical studies of youth in Croatia carried through from 1999 to 2013. Based on the longitudinal study results, a downward trend was identified regarding selected indicators of political culture in terms of accepting the liberal-democratic values, trust in social and political institutions, interest in politics and party preference while simultaneously participation in various types of organizations, especially political parties has increased. The interpretation of established tendencies is situated in broader context of economic recession and social crisis influence with current trends being observed both as indicators and consequences of young people’s inadequate political socialization and political institutions’ and actors’ weaknesses during the transition and consolidation period.

youth; political culture; social crisis; Croatia

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