Croatia

Women’s political representation in Croatia is similar to that of other former eastern European countries. It also has particular features not found in other socialist states that shaped the context and opportunities for women’s participation in parliament. Croatia had a more liberal political culture than most communist countries, while the country’s transition to democracy was marked by war. Both are consistent elements in Croatia’s political history. Croatia’s strategic geopolitical position in central Europe with a Mediterranean coastline has delivered an historical legacy of political domination and strategic alliance-building along with periods of independence. In the Middle Ages Croatia was a powerful independent country, later it entered into political unions with some of its neighbors: with Hungary in the 12th century, Austria at the beginning of the 16th century, and Austro-Hungary from the second half of the 19th century through to 1918. After World War I, Croatia joined the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which lasted until 1941, and after World War II Croatia became a republic within the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia, which later changed its name to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1945-1991). Only at the end of the 20th century did Croatia achieve political independence again. Independence took place within the context of massive transition changes in central and eastern Europe, replacing the communist regimes with democratic orders during a wave of democratization. But Croatia was not fortunate enough to go through the process in the manner of other central European countries with similar cultures and histories. Political system change in Croatia was accompanied by the disintegration of federal Yugoslavia. Following a referendum, Croatia declared independence on 25 June 1991. After an attempt to restructure the socialist Yugoslavia as a confederation (proposed by Croatia), Croatia’s independence was followed by the occupation of one third of its territory by the Serbian forces of Slobodan Miloševic. The war, which lasted from June 1991 until May 1995, caused great human and material losses. During this period, Croatia simultaneously fought for international recognition (and recognition of its pre-war borders), as well as conducting a political and military struggle to gain control over all of its territory. The country was internationally recognized at the beginning of 1992, and its territory was returned gradually – part of it in a military action in 1995, and its easternmost part through a peaceful reintegration in 1998.Croatia was then the only post-communist country in which the parting with

the communist totalitarian order was accompanied by war. ‘In Croatia, war forcefully “interfered” with transition and nation-building processes, becoming a chief factor in those processes’ (Kasapovic, 1996, p.153).