Perceptions of the Nation: A Sociological Perspective on the Case of Croatia Gordana Uzelac I i i i Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The London School of Economics and Political Science London University 2002 l UMI Number: U615227 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. Dissertation Publishing UMI U615227 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 f H £&& ^ F to o o ABSTRACT This thesis examines the processes of social change that characterise the /re/formation of the nation. It argues that such processes can only be identified through the examination of the interplay between social structure, culture and agency in a specific period of time. Through the exploration of the basic assumptions of Social Realist Theory, a methodological framework is constructed for the analysis of themorphogenesis o f the nation. The basic assumptions of the developed framework are tested on the case of Croatia. A historical analysis explores the processes of structural change and the formation and competition of corporate agents from the beginning of the nineteenth until the end of the twentieth century. The processes of cultural change that occurred in the same period of time are investigated through a content analysis of the writings of the dominant Croatian nationalist ideologists, which identifies the ways in which the nation in general and the Croatian nation in particular were defined. The interaction between social structure and culture in the process of nation /re/formation is explored through a content analysis of secondary school history textbooks. This analysis looks at the ways dominant ideas of nations and nationalism were incorporated into the education system from the 1880s until the 1990s and, through the medium of textbooks, were designed to influence the attitudes of primary agents. In order to investigate the interplay between structure and culture, on the one side, and primary agents, on the other, a survey was undertaken in early 2000 on a sample of the population of Zagreb. It examined the ways these agents perceive the nation in general, the Croatian nation in particular, national symbols and national enemies. These analyses show that the issues of defining the nation and explaining the process of its formation are necessarily inter-linked. The study concludes that the nation emerges with the emergence of social processes - the formation of political community, the politicisation (nationalisation) of culture, the mobilisation of a population around specific nationalist ideologies, and the population’s acceptance of certain aspects of these ideologies. 2 TABLE OF CONTENT LIST OF TABLES...............................................................................................6 LIST OF MAPS................................................................................................... 8 LIST OF FIGURES.............................................................................................9 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................................... 10 INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................. 12 The Pr oblem .................................................................................................................13 Purpose of the Thesis ............................................................................................... 16 Nation vs. Nationalism............................................................................................18 Nation vs. Ethnie...................................................................................................... 18 Nation vs. Culture....................................................................................................19 W hy Croatia ? .............................................................................................................21 Structure of the Resea r c h .................................................................................. 22 PART ONE........................................................................................................ 25 1. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK.................................................................25 1.1. Introduction .......................................................................................................25 1.2. Social Ch a n g e ....................................................................................................26 1.3. R ealist Social Th e o r y................................................................................... 31 2. THE NATION AS A SOCIAL FORM......................................................... 43 2.1. Defining the Na tion ......................................................................................... 43 2.2. Conflation in Existing Theories of N ation -Form ation ....................48 2.3. M orphogenesis of N a t io n ..............................................................................57 2.3.1. Structural and Cultural Conditioning .......................................................58 2.3.2. Socio-cultural Interaction........................................................................... 64 2.3.3. Social Elaboration........................................................................................68 3. OPERATIONALISATION AND METHODOLOGY................................ 73 3.1. Period of an Analysis ......................................................................................73 3.2. Levels of the Analy sis ................................................................................... 74 3.3. Interrelations of the L evels of the An a ly sis ..................................... 77 3.4. Structure of the Empirical Research ......................................................79 3.5. M eth odo log y .......................................................................................... 80 PART TWO: THE CASE OF CROATIA........................................................ 83 4. NINETEENTH-CENTURY CROATIAN NATIONALIST IDEOLOGIES85 4.1. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 85 4.2. Historical Background I (Seventh - E ighteenth century ) 87 4.3. N ational Ideology of the Illyrian M ov em en t .................................... 99 4.3.1. The Name: Illyrian, Croatian and South-Slav Nations..................... 100 4.3.2. The Concept of the Croatian Nation......................................................102 4.3.3 The Others ..................................................................................................... 104 3 4.3.4. Conclusion ...................................................................................................106 4.4. Historical Background II (1840-1900).................................................. 108 4.5. Y ugoslavism .....................................................................................................117 4.5.1. The Concept of the Nation....................................................................... 119 4.5.2. The Croatian Nation and Yugoslavism................................................. 121 4.5.3. The Others ....................................................................................................125 4.5.4. Conclusion ...................................................................................................129 4.6. The Nationalist Ideology of the Party of Rig h t ............................. 130 4.6.1. Definition of the Nation............................................................................131 4.6.2. The Croatian Nation.................................................................................. 133 4.6.3. Internal Enemies ......................................................................................... 137 4.6.4. External Enemies ....................................................................................... 140 4.6.5. Conclusion ...................................................................................................143 5. TWENTIETH-CENTURY CROATIAN NATIONALIST IDEOLOGIES 147 5.1. Introduction .....................................................................................................147 5.2. Historical Background HI (1900-1928)................................................. 148 5.3. The Croatian Peasant Party ’s Nationalist ideology .................... 158 5.3.1. Definition of the Nation............................................................................159 5.3.2. The Croatian N ation...................................................................................160 5.3.3. The Croatian Nation and South-Slav Union........................................164 5.3.4. The Enemy...................................................................................................167 5.3.5. Conclusion ...................................................................................................169