Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 after a free election in 1990. Franjo Tudjman had won against communist opponents in the elections. Almost immediately, the army of the broken Yugoslavia attacked Croatia in a bid to take over the country again, a war lasted four years. Elections of 2000 saw the entry of President Stipe Mesic, who was substantially associated with the developments that later erupted in the nation of Croatia including regional cooperation and national healing strategies.
Content
Chapter 1
Croatian Historical Background
Background
General Political State after Independence
Political State
Institutions and Unions: European Union
What took Croatia a long Time to Rise to the Occasion?
Croatia joins Union Nations
Problem definition / Research question
Value of the Research
Chapter 2
Literature Review
Examination of the requirements of integration and Croatian Institution have or have not adapted to the Changes Incentives for Joining; Advantages of being a member state
Union Expectations of Member State
Factor Consideration
Impacts on institution after integration
Political Shock
Period after Joining
Social Risks
Chapter 3
Conclusion
Works cited
Chapter 1
Croatian Historical Background
Background
Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 after a free election in 1990. Franjo Tudjman had won against communist opponents in the elections. Almost immediately, the army of the broken Yugoslavia attacked Croatia in a bid to take over the country again, a war lasted four years. Elections of 2000 saw the entry of President Stipe Mesic, who was substantially associated with the developments that later erupted in the nation of Croatia including regional cooperation and national healing strategies (BBC News).
General Political State after Independence
The politics that ran Croatia were marred by corruption and nepotism as was later uncovered by President Stipe Mesic, who won the elections promising the end of such systems in the government and reforms. His goal was to promote Croatia to enter into the EU. He uncovered conspiracies that saw the privatization of companies without them being open to the public implying a deep-rooted corruption (Gall).
Political State
Croatia was oppressed under Tito, who employed communism to rule the nation. Franjo Tudjman later to be first a nationalist president served as a military man with this army and later on grew to be against the communist regime. He landed in jail and served a sentence. At this point, he was a professor (Plotz). Tudjman is associated with the struggle for Croatia’s independence and her finding her footing among other nations and eventual recognition by the European Union (Sadkovich). However, his regime is remembered with memories of the war with Yugoslavian army which led to the loss of many lives. Also, he is associated with the ethnic cleansing which saw persecuted by the major Christian population.
Institutions and Unions: European Union
The idea of the union was started with the European Economic Community in 1957 and has from then developed rapidly with the joining of more member states. It has grown to be the most respected regional union in the world. Its policies of development and democracy make it popular among the citizens of member states and others around the world. In 2012, the EU won the Nobel Prize for the most creative company/ institution that empowers and develops nations in its region.
What took Croatia a long Time to Rise to the Occasion?
The first issue that arose was its stability and lack of involvement with security organizations and/or economic groups. Secondly, the nation had not resolved issues with the neighboring states with which it is linked to numerous war crimes during the 90s that ended up with a cleansing civil war against Muslims. Finally, the Croatia had its internal problems such as the dictatorship of the president in a coalition government (Cierco 178). This is a hindrance to the effect that up to 2000 when the popular vote changed the regime; the people implicated in these activities were not persecuted yet. Also, the debt ratio to GDP has remained high reaching 80% by 2014. This is worrying especially considering that Croatia’s population mainly consists of young nation building individuals who are unemployed due to the state of the national economy (The Economist).
Croatia joins Union Nations
Croatia has been determinedly moving things towards this goal especially after the election of the coalition government of 2000 who were pro-integration. Finally, Croatia applied for membership with the EU in 2003. The following year, 2004, it was granted candidateship following which negotiations begun in October 2005 (Guerra). These fast moves by the EU are associated with Croatia’s submission to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) (Peskin and Boduszyński 1136). This union with other nations is a good political move because it shelters the nation against political attacks from its neighbors, and it sets an example for other countries that have not yet joined. However, it begs the question whether the country will withstand the turbulence expected with the ICTY prosecutions of war criminals during this stage of democratization. The decision of the EU commission to take Croatia in was hailed by member states who saw this an opportunity to draw in more states into the union (Lindstrom).
Problem definition / Research question
Croatia is bound to benefit from the integration into the European Union (EU) as it will asset from the laws numerous aids enjoyed by member states of the EU. However, the integration of Croatia will imply on the country as it has to align to the rules of the EU member states. There lie two possible alternative outcomes in the political arena of Croatia. One, there are beneficial reforms in the political system in respect to the changes made and two, there is a rejection of required changes as they collide with the current political system’s core values and principles. Political stability and soundness is vital in all countries, and the joining of Croatia into a regional group might play role in the turnout of its politics.
Value of the Research
Development and growth of a nation’s societal, economic and political sectors is driven by globalization or in this context expanding of boundaries or reach. Croatia has achieved this through directives such as joining the EU and adjusting local laws. This report hopes to fill a knowledge gap in the literature available on politics post Franjo Tudjman rule in Croatia. This paper will be used for research purposes and serve as a practice sample as well as help develop critiquing skill.
Chapter 2
Literature Review
Examination of the requirements of integration and Croatian Institution have or have not adapted to the Changes Incentives for Joining; Advantages of being a member state
Such a great international leap by Croatia must be motivated by certain benefits that its citizens and the government see necessary or want to gain from. These benefits are experienced by all member states of the EU. They include the following.
Economic benefits. The single market is a policy that drives the member states to realize significant profits in business transactions and also leap cheap transactional charges on international forums. Croatia has recognized some of these advantages as its inflation falls; employment rises and flagging of the private and public sectors is evident (Euronews).
Political benefits. This entails the strengthening of democracy, human rights implementations and benefitting from the EU policing which eliminates crimes that are trans-border. This tightens the regional powers of a nation shielding it from possible interference by hostile neighbors. As is the case for Croatia, there still holds grudges and threats of war with neighboring Yugoslavia.
Other advantages to becoming a affiliate of the EU are; medical and health care and personal benefits which include freedom of movement.
Union Expectations of Member State
The prospective states must be in compliance with the set institutional rules and standards. These measures are discussed in more details in the section, factor consideration. The state must be consented by existing member states of and its citizens (European Neighborhood Policy And Enlargement Negotiations). This is mostly not accomplished until the lapse of some years.
Factor Consideration
The prospecting member state must adhere to the designated rules and must be in alignment with the expectations set forth by the EU commission. For a nation to be considered, it must be stable politically and economically, plus it must be willing to adhere to behaviors of a member state to the EU. By this, it is implied that the nation must uphold law and justice, protect the minorities and place human rights at the forefront (European Neighborhood Policy And Enlargement Negotiations).
Impacts on institution after integration
Political Shock
The political sector of Croatia has evidently been affected by the pursuit of Europeanization. The powers that have come after Tudjman’s have uprooted corruption from the government and public departments citing favors from the western nations (Bulkans). Most notable was the release of war criminals for examination by tribunals set by the region. The politicians in Croatia have seen the opportunity to win back the art works and other national treasures stolen from them. With the EU, they have gained enough power to force Belgrade to return them. Also, the politicians seek entry into archived documentations for leverage against Belgrade and for closure.
Croatia has set a political mood that showcases its importance in the unions it has joined playing key roles in initiatives agreed upon. For instance, Croatia is taking leading role in reaching out to the Western Balkans. Croatia was well prepared for the accession which came just four years after joining NATO, 2009, which secured it politically. A year after accession, Croatia put in motion strategies for joining Euro zone and Schengen while first the EU having completed the conditions necessary for the movement. There is no doubt that the political system of Croatia cannot compare to its predecessor.
A worthy point to note is that the move to modify laws and creation of amendments might have been purely to gain favor from the commissions of NATO and EU. This can be argued with the fact that the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel was annoyed by Croatia’s reluctance to act on the matter of assassination of Croatian defector. She stated that though the error of Tudjman had ended, key players in his system had taken root and were now trying to pull the political covers over the issue by pointing it to the opposite party. Thus creating confusion around the issue to the point where the problem is irresolvable (The Economist).
More recent developments have suggested that the move to join EU for Croatia has developed a stage where even the women have developed oomph and have come out to join in the politics. Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic the first female president of the state got into the presidential seat on January, 2015. This is a major change in the political field where women have mostly shied from in the past probably because of the tension and the international pressure on the nation (News-EU).
Period after Joining
The advantage of being with the EU is that the economically weak nations are strengthened as well as the political stature. The idea behind the EU is to make a region where nations thrive economically and politically hence the removal of numerous boundary bans and cheap business operation rates plus porous boundaries. Croatia on the other hand manufactured their own contemporary meaning to being member states to the EU; they had been placed at alignment with neighbouring Slovenia (Bogdanic and Husic).
[...]
- Citation du texte
- Dino Agovic (Auteur), 2017, How Europeanization Influenced the Political System of Croatia, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/364579
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