Cultural Politics in (Post)Socialist Croatia: The Question of (Dis)Continuity

Abstract

The chapter concerns the role of cultural politics during and after Yugoslav socialism, as illustrated on the example of Croatia. Falski and Rawski examine the discursive trajectories of two central categories in post-1990 Croatia: “the Croatian nation” and “representative democracy.” The authors trace how they moved from the margins of the socialist normative framework to the center of the postsocialist one, thus pointing at a significant continuity between these frameworks, when it comes to the state itself. Subsequently, the authors examine the relationship between the state and culture, considering whether (and how) it changed in post-1990 Croatia. On the example of numerous “laws” on theatre the authors show that, contrary to the logic of socio-economic transition, the culture after socialism remained a privileged field, an object of particular concern for the state. It was excluded from market competition and taken under state protection particularly in areas where it could serve the reconstruction of Croatian national identity.