Nataša Zambelli

This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: • This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. • A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. • This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. • The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. • When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. East of Eden: A poststructuralist analysis of Croatia’s identity in the context of EU accession By Nataša Zambelli Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) University of Edinburgh 2011 Declaration I hereby declare that, except where otherwise indicated, this thesis is entirely my own work, and that no part of it has been submitted for any other degree or qualification. Nataša Zambelli 30nd August 2011 Abstract Since the early 1990s Croatia has defined membership of the European Union as one of its primary goals. However, the immediate post-war period and the difficult transition to democracy left Croatia in relative isolation from Western European states and its aim of joining the European Union seemed unattainable and distant. Croatia’s involvement in the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and President Tuđman’s politics proved to be great obstacles to its further democratisation and development. The parliamentary and presidential elections in the year 2000 and the defeat of Tuđman’s party offered a unique opportunity to change the direction of Croatian politics and to move closer to achieving the goal of EU membership. This thesis addresses changes in Croatia’s identity and it does so through the analysis of discourses surrounding Croatia’s cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and its changing attitudes towards the protection of minority rights during the year 2000. Both cases fall under the Copenhagen Criteria of Accession whose implementation was crucial for Croatia’s moving closer towards EU membership. They are also closely linked to Croatia’s identity and are rooted in the civilisational discourse that juxtaposes ‘the West’/ EU and ‘the East’/ the Balkans as both geographical and civilisational spaces. The two case studies are both concerned with questions of sovereignty, justice, victims of the Homeland War and the role of Serbia in Croatia’s recent past and in its future. Serbia features as Croatia’s radical other and is discursively constructed as an embodiment of the Balkans civilisation. The study of cooperation with the ICTY and of discourses surrounding minority protection analyses the links between different civilisational spaces that Croatia navigates and their implications to the reconstruction of discourses central to Croatian identity. Despite different subject material both case studies reveal the centrality of the Serbian other for the Croatian identity and the need to redefine that relationship without undermining Croatia’s identity as a Western country and attempts to differentiate itself from the Balkans. Contents DECLARATION ii ABSTRACT iii CONTENTS iv 1 1 INTRODUCTION: CONDUCTING A POSTSTRUCTURALIST STUDY IN THE POST-TUĐMAN CROATIA 1 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Methodology and analysis of text 6 1.3 Contribution of the study 7 1.4 Epistemological and ontological questions in studying politics and the area of identity studies 8 1.5 Croatia and its place in Europe: between the East and the West 14 1.6 Research questions and thesis structure 26 2 29 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 29 2.1 Introduction 29 2.2 Conceptual framework 30 2.3. The Copenhagen School and the study of identity 42 2.4 Identity studies in the wider international setting 53 2.5 Reflexive communities in transition: the process of othering and identity construction 64 2.6 Concluding remarks 70 3 72 TEXTS IN CONTEXTS: DISCOURSE ANALYSIS AS POSTSTRUCTURALIST METHODOLOGY 72 3.1 Introduction 72 3.2 Discourse analysis as a method of analysing text 73 3.3 Designing a research project and conducting the analysis 80 3.4 Data Collection and analysis 99 4 107 TROUBLE WITH THE BALKANS: AN ANALYSIS OF THE RADICAL OTHER AND THE CIVILISATIONAL DISCOURSE 107 4.1 Introduction 107 4.2 Setting the scene: a new political agenda in the post-Tuđman era 109 4.3 First debates and political decisions: the Constitution and the question of government 112 4.4 The civilisational discourse and the radical other: what does ‘the Balkans’ really mean and where can it be found? 119 4.5 Turning over a new leaf: spreading democracy in the region 129 4.6 The Zagreb Summit and its implications 135 4.7 Concluding remarks 139 5 141 THE CASE OF COOPERATING WITH THE ICTY 141 5.1 Introduction 141 5.2 Rearticulating sovereignty 143 5.3 Whose war was it in the first place? 155 5.4 Defending the Homeland War and the problem of its criminalisation 159 5.5 Concluding remarks 176 6 178 THE CASE OF MINORITY RIGHTS: LETTING THE SLEEPING DOGS LIE 6.1 Introduction 178 6.2 Minority rights in the Yugoslav context and the new political setting 181 6.3 Minority rights and the fear of the Balkans: a crisis of identity 189 6.4 The Constitution and rearticulation of the meaning of the state 194 6.5 Occupying a new subject position: a difficult journey from victimisation to responsibility 198 6.6 The status of minority languages 207 6.7 Concluding remarks 209 7 211 CONCLUSION 211 7.1 Introduction 211 7.2 Revisiting poststructuralist theory and the contribution of the thesis 213 7.2.1 The findings on Croatia and theoretical implications of empirical analysis 214 7.3 Concluding remarks and future research 227 References 230 1 Introduction: Conducting a poststructuralist study in the post-Tuđman Croatia 1.1 Introduction At the beginning of the twenty-first century Croatia’s political landscape started to change dramatically. After a long period of communist rule that started after the Second World War, independence and democratisation in the early 1990s came at great cost. The entire decade was spent in difficult political circumstances that challenged all aspects of the new sovereign state, such as the Homeland War, fought against Yugoslav forces, and the post-war period of recovery and democratisation that included cooperation with international institutions that posed further challenges to Croatia to adapt to the new circumstances. Membership of the European Union (EU) was put forward as a major foreign policy goal and in the mid- 1990s there was an increase in cooperation between the two actors. However, in the period of the late 1990s Croatia was led into political isolation, never officially announced but whose effects were felt nevertheless. President Franjo Tuđman’s1 politics increasingly alienated the international community and Croatia’s hopes of joining the European Union became more and more remote. The start of the year 2000 was received with excitement and hope. The parliamentary and presidential elections that took place in January, after the death of Tuđman at the end of the previous year, signalling the possibility of a new direction that would lead the country towards membership in the European Union and away from the isolationist politics that characterised the previous ten-year period. The loss of Tuđman’s party, the HDZ2, to a coalition of six parties opened up possibilities for reform and a rearticulation of Croatia’s national goals and values in accordance with contemporary European positions. 1 Franjo Tuđman, President of Croatia between 30th May 1990 and 10th Dec 1999 2 Hrvatska demokratska zajednica (Croatian Democratic Union) 1 The Copenhagen Criteria of Accession, established by the European Union, required stability of democratic institutions, the rule of law, protection of minorities, ability to adhere to the acquis communitaire and a functioning market economy. An additional requirement was demanded of Croatia: to fully cooperate with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), established by the United Nations in 1993, with the purpose of trying individuals responsible for war crimes in the Yugoslav conflict. In the second half of the 1990s the level of cooperation was low and Croatia faced growing dissatisfaction from the international community. President Tuđman’s approach to international cooperation was one of suspicion and resistance, which led the country to a stand-still. The election of a new leadership thus represented not just an opportunity for further democratisation but the beginning of a new era that would transform Croatia and require a profound change in its political identity. On 4th October 2005, the European Union’s Council of Ministers opened accession talks with Croatia after a period of rather strained relations between the two parties over the status of The Hague indictments. The launch of negotiations with the EU was immediately portrayed in the media as a historical event, something almost equal to the 1992 recognition of Croatia as an independent state.3 It was with the elections of 2000 that the new era for Croatian politics really began and this study seeks to contribute to the understanding of the events that led to the opening of accession talks several years later. The focus of this thesis is the question of Croatian national identity and how that has changed after the Parliamentary and Presidential elections of 2000 and why. In order to understand this occurrence the thesis will analyse the changes in the official government discourse regarding the questions of cooperation with the ICTY and the protection of minority rights in the immediate post-Tuđman period.

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