From Nationalist to Europeanist: the rise and fall of national movements in Slovakia and Croatia Sharon Fisher School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES), University College London Ph.D. ProQuest Number: U642724 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest. ProQuest U642724 Published by ProQuest LLC(2015). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Abstract Using Slovakia and Croatia as case studies, this work looks at the formation, maintenance, and eventual defeat of national movements in new states. In doing so, it pays special attention to the development of the Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ) and Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) as national movements, examining what the two parties looked like at the time they were established and how they evolved throughout the decade as they responded to new threats and challenges. Because of the policies and rhetoric promoted by the two parties, many analysts have claimed that nationalism was a pivotal element in the establishment and development of the HDZ and HZDS and of Croatia and Slovakia as independent states. Although on the surface nationalism seems to have played a major role, in fact the approach of the ruling parties appeared as much authoritarian as it was nationalist, as everything was subordinated to the state, nation, and ruling parties. Evidence suggests that the ideology of nationalism was simply used by those parties as a tool to build influence and retain power, enabling them to justify the exclusion of unfriendly elements from society. The two parties’ national credentials can be called into question because in certain areas — particularly the economy, culture, and foreign policy — the HZDS and HDZ in practice appeared more concerned with the personal gain of party representatives than with fulfilling their promise of promoting the national interest. In the second half of the 1990s, the activities of the independent media, trade unions, and civic associations helped contribute to the development of a more democratically-oriented civil society in Slovakia and Croatia. Despite frequent attacks on them by the HZDS and HDZ, such groups actively pointed out the contradictions between the nationally- oriented rhetoric and self -serving practices of the ruling parties in an effort to bring political change. The political opposition, which was often disunited and ineffective earlier in the decade, finally managed to pull together by the time of the 1998 elections in Slovakia and the 2000 elections in Croatia. Its popularity benefited from the activities of civil society organizations, which helped to ensure that the populations’ frustration was not channeled into radical parties or voter apathy, thereby contributing to the nationalists' defeat. Table of Contents Acknowledgements 4 Section one: The Rise of National Movements and the Political Mobilization of Populations Chapter 1: The Discourse of Nationalism 5 Chapter 2: The First Elections — 1990 in Croatia and 1992 in Slovakia 39 Section Two: Maintaining National Mobilization Chapter 3: Structuring the Ideology of the New State 110 Chapter 4: Economic Policies: using state property for political gain 161 Chapter 5: The Politics of Culture: promoting a national identity 195 Section Three: The Decline of National Movements Chapter 6: The Growth of Democratic Civil Society and Emergence of Alternative Identities 223 Chapter 7: The Fall of National Movemeits: 1998 in Slovakia and 2000 in Croatia 257 Chapter 8: Conclusion 292 Bibliography 303 Acknowledgements I made the decision to do a Ph.D. comparing Slovakia and Croatia in 1996, while working as the Slovak analyst at the Open Media Research Institute (OMRI) in Prague. Many of the background materials used in this study, particularly those relating to Slovakia, were obtained during my four years of employment at the RFE/RL Research Institute in Munich and subsequently at OMRI. I have been studying Slovakia since 1990, and the Slovak and Czech friends and colleagues who have contributed to my understanding of that country and assisted me during the dissertation process are too numerous to name, although I would like to single out Eva Benova, Anton Marcincin, Zuzana Melisova, and Zuzana Éefcikovà. While many Croats offered their help and support at various stages of my Ph.D. study, I would like to offer special thanks to Biljana Bijelic, Goran Cular, Milivoj Dilas, Ines Sabalic, and Ante Soric. I would also like to thank Grigorij Meseznikov, Zora Butorova, and Martin Butora of the Institute for Public Affairs (IVO) in Bratislava and Ivan Grdesic and Nenad Zakosek of the University of Zagreb’s Political Science Department for providing me with a place to work during my field research in Slovakia and Croatia. My supervisors Kieran Williams and Vesna Popovski played an important role in the preparation of this dissertation, and I also owe thanks to a number of Western experts on the region who helped out and offered advice during my Ph.D. study, including Stefan Krause, Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers, Milada Vachudova, Karen Buerkle, Stef Jansen, Karen Henderson, and Peter Rutland. Also helpful was the summer 1998 Junior Scholars’ Training Seminar, co-sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and by the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS). Regarding financial support, I am grateful to OMRI for its assistance in the first stages of my Ph.D. Other backing came from the ACLS Fellowship for Dissertation Research in East European Studies (August 1999-July 2000) and the Overseas Research Students (ORS) Awards Scheme of the Universities and Colleges in the United Kingdom (1997-2000). Moreover, the British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies (BASEES) provided a travel grant for a research visit to Croatia in 1998. Section One; The Rise of National Movements and the Political Mobilization of Populations Chapter 1: The Discourse of Nationalism The economic upheaval and general uncertainty associated with the fall of communism gave political elites throughout Central and Eastern Europe the opportunity to maneuver relatively freely, if only for a limited amount of time. The need to launch deep economic and political changes provided elites with the ability to devise new programs, legislation, and bureaucratic structures. At the same time, they were given the chance to forge a new public discourse for the post-communist era. Insecure and vulnerable during the first years of the transition period, the populations of the region were often swayed by politicians offering easy solutions to difficult problems, while those using rational arguments were frequently unpopular. In many post-communist countries, the protection of the nation served as the main rallying point, as leaders tried to convince the populations that if the national question were resolved, all other problems would disappear. In cases such as Romania, where the focus on the nation was made in already existing nation-states, policies were implemented to promote the nation and limit the rights of ethnic minorities, bringing governments short-term rewards from the majority population. At the same time, however, those same governments often failed to satisfactorily address the fundamental economic and social problems facing their countries. Although corruption was prevalent throughout the region, it was often considerably more visible in countries that followed the Romanian model, sharply conflicting with the governments’ claims that they were promoting and protecting national interests. An alternative model was put forward in the Czech Republic, where politicians promised riches through quick economic reforms, using the ideology of civic liberalism in persuading the population that there was only one path to prosperity. Nonetheless, there was also an element of nationalism in the Czechs, who were encouraged to identify themselves as a nation of hard-working capitalists rather than as lazy sociaists. ^ The national question played a key role in mobilizing populations in various republics of Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and the Soviet Union prior to the collapse of those multi-ethnic entities in the early 1990s. After the creation of independent s tates, some politicians considered their ultimate goal to be fulfilled, and they were anxious to advance their new country toward prosperity and democracy, which in many Central and East European states had become synonymous with the "return to Europe.” The three Baltic states and Slovenia largely followed that model. For others, however, the establishment of the new state was only the first step, and there was a subsequent effort to strengthen national identity, silence ethnic minorities, and protect the nation against outside influences. In such cases, a crucial question is whether such steps were taken out of a deeply held belief in the importance of the nation or whether they were simply taken out of a desire to hold onto power. The most obvious case of such an approach came in Slobodan Milosevic’s Yugoslavia; however, elements of that model were utilized in other countries as well, including the two countries that are the focus of this study: Slovakia and Croatia. Using Slovakia and Croatia as case studies, this work looks at the formation, maintenance, and eventual defeat of national movements in new states. In doing so, it pays special attention to the development of the Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ) and Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) as national movements, examining what the two parties looked like at the time they were established and how they evolved throughout the decade as they responded to new threats and challenges.