Original scientific paper
Regime Support in Croatia - Determinants of Regime Support in the Past, Present and Future
Duško Sekulić
; The Flinders University of South Australia
Željka Šporer
Abstract
In this paper we use the case of Croatia to discover the determinants and patterns of support for the previous (communist) and the present political system, as well as expectations about the future. The conceptual and theoretical framework takes into account five dimensions: class, nationality, religiosity, economic well-being and heterogeneity of the region. There is a general pattern of support in Croatia which roughly corresponds to the findings in other post-communist countries. We find a negative evaluation of the previous system, more positive evaluation of the present political system (in the case of Croatia, more neutral) and optimism about the future.
Although this pattern holds across all groups, there are many significant differences. The previous regime is judged less harsh among females, professionals, less skilled manual workers, Serbs and less religious people. Satisfaction with the present political systems is mostly expressed among the less educated, farmers, people with lower income, the more religious, groups who identify themselves as “lower class” and those who created some savings in the last year. The more intensive support for the current political system is located on the lower end of the social hierarchy and on the top, managers-owners. We conclude that a new alliances forming between the top and the bottom of social hierarchy, as it was in the previous system (Županov, 19X3.) but this new alliance contains different social groups and it is based on different interests than before.
Keywords
regime support; Croatia; post-communism; political evaluation; Eastern Europe; political sociology
Hrčak ID:
154513
URI
Publication date:
30.6.1997.
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