Croatian civil society on the pathway to becoming a legitimate public actor
Croatian civil society on the pathway to becoming a legitimate public actor

Summary/Abstract: This article deal with issue of civil society development in Croatia as transitional and post war country during 1990s. Civil society development in this time is very much related to the humanitarian crisis caused by the War and involvement of international and foreign organisation. Beside that, civil society in Croatia has a poor tradition, its development has been hindered by half a century of communism and totalitarian ideology, coupled with the lack of experience with the concept of freedom of association. In the second part of article, using the concept of CIVICUS Index on Civil Society Project, we analyse four dimension of civil society in Croatia: the structure of civil society; the legal, political and socio-cultural space in which civil society operates in the larger regulatory, legal and social environment; the values civil society represents and propagates and the impact civil society has on social and community development as well as on the public policy process. The most critical area of civil society development in Croatia is related to the limited space it has to operate, as defined by the legislative, political and social-cultural framework. With legislation we do need to deal more with public policy issues trying to institutionalise a place for CSOs social capital building activities. The negative attitude of the state, restrictive legislation, a lack of social responsibility on the part of the corporate sector and the absence of a culture of volunteering and public spiritedness are vital problems. Regarding its impact, civil society organisations seems, at least in their own perceptions, to contribute significantly to solving specific social, economic and political problems and furthering the public good. However, influence on the public policy process is very limited.

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