Original scientific paper
CROATIAN PERCEPTION OF WAR – BETWEEN THE LIBERAL AND NATIONAL-PATHETIC
Stjepan Domjančić
orcid.org/0000-0001-5964-5004
; Ministarstvo obrane Republike Hrvatske
Abstract
Theorists who developed the concept of “warless societies” or “post military societies” represented the mainstream in the West during the nineties of the 20th century. But, these concepts did not have prospective opportunities in the wider area of South Eastern Europe because of war. However, twenty years later, despite the radicalization and militarization of public political discourse, despite the frequent invocation of more active use of the military for non-military purposes, the key elements of the concept of “post military society” in Croatia are more present than in many countries of the “old” West. On the other side in Croatian society such a degree of ambivalence has been present towards the war and the army, which jeopardizes the possibility of applying all known theoretical approaches. The war and the military have been the area of the marginal interest of social science disciplines in Croatia, and civil-military relations in the public area, and even in the academic community, have been treated only in the context of meaningless and pathetic lamentations about “attitude towards Homeland War” or “relationship to war veterans”. In addition, military theory in Croatia, literally, does not exist. On the one hand, the Croatian society shows below-average interest in defence and security issues, and on the other hand the public space is largely militarized, and the experience of the Homeland War is the most abundant source of the militarization.
Keywords
war; military; warless societies; postmodern military; liberal theory
Hrčak ID:
156735
URI
Publication date:
29.12.2015.
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