Liberalism in Croatia

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This article gives an overview of liberalism in Croatia. It is limited to liberal parties with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in parliament. The sign ⇒ denotes another party in that scheme. For inclusion in this scheme it isn't necessary so that parties labeled themselves as a liberal party.

Background

Liberals became active since 1860 in Dalmatia and since 1904 in the rest of Croatia. It never became a major political party.

History

After the restoration of democracy in 1989 liberalism became very divided. At the moment one could distinguish four parties: the right of center Croatian Social Liberal Party (Hrvatska socijalno liberalna stranka, member LI, ELDR) and the two center liberal parties Liberal Party (Liberalna stranka, member LI, ELDR) and Croatian People's Party-Liberal Democrats (Croatian Hrvatska narodna stranka - Liberalni Demokrati, observer LI, member ELDR). Main media exponents of Croatian liberalism or liberal ideas include or included newspapers Novi list and Glas Istre, culture magazine Zarez and the defunct weekly Feral Tribune.

1860–1945

National Party

• 1860: National liberals formed in Dalmatia the National party (Narodna Stranka). The party developed into a conservative party around 1889.

From Progressive Party to Progressive Democratic Party

• 1904: Progressive liberals formed the Progressive Party (Napredna Stranka)
• 1906: The NS merged with the ⇒ Democratic Party into the Croatian People's Progressive Party (Hrvatska Pučka Napredna Stranka)
• 1910: The party merged with the Croatian Party of the Right (Hrvatska Strannka Prava) into the Croatian Independent Party (Hrvatska Samostalna Stranka)
• 1918: The party is reorganised into the Progressive Democratic Party (Napredna Demokratska Stranka)
• 1919: The party became part of the conservative Croatian Community (Hrvatska Zajednica)

Democratic Party (Dalmatia)

• 1906: Dalmatian liberals formed the Democratic Party (Demokratska Stranka)
• 1908: The DS merged into the ⇒ Croatian People's Progressive Party

From Democratic Community to Democratic Party (Yugoslavia)

• 1919: Croatian liberals became part of the Yugoslav State Party of Serbian, Croatian and Slovene Democrats (Državnotvorna Stranka Demokrata Srba, Hrvata i Slovenaca)
• 1919: The party is renamed into the Democratic Community (Demokratska Zajednica)
• 1920: The party is renamed into the Democratic Party (Demokratska Stranka)
• 1924: A faction formed the ⇒ Independent Democratic Party
• 1945: The party is dissolved

Independent Democratic Party

• 1924: The former Serbian Independent Party seceded from the ⇒ Democratic Party and constituted the Independent Democratic Party (Samostalna Demokratska Stranka), led by Svetozar Pribićević, mainly active in the Serbian population of Croatia
• 1945: The party is dissolved

1989–present

Croatian Social Liberal Union / Croatian Social Liberal Party

• 1989: Liberals formed the Croatian Social Liberal Union (Hrvatski Socijalno Liberalni Savez), renamed in 1990 into the Croatian Social Liberal Party (Hrvatska Socijalno Liberalna Stranka)
• 1998: A left-wing faction formed the ⇒ Liberal Party
• 2002: A faction secedes to formed the ⇒ Party of Liberal Democrats

Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats

• 1990: Dissident communists formed the liberal Croatian People's Party (Hrvatska narodna stranka)
• 2005: The ⇒ Party of Liberal Democrats merges into the party, which is renamed into Croatian People's Party-Liberal Democrats (Hrvatska narodna stranka - Liberalni Demokrati)

Liberal Party

• 1998: A left-wing faction of the ⇒ Croatian Social Liberal Party formed the Liberal Party (Liberalna Stranka)

Party of Liberal Democrats

• 2002: A faction of the ⇒ Croatian Social Liberal Party led by Jozo Radoš formed the Party of Liberal Democrats (LIBRA - Stranka liberalnih demokrata)
• 2003: LIBRA wins three Parliament seats
• February 6, 2005: most of the 248 representatives of Libra on its second convention voted to merge with the Croatian People's Party
• 2005: The party of Liberal Democrats merges into the ⇒ Croatian People's Party, which is renamed into Croatian People's Party-Liberal Democrats

Liberal leaders

• Svetozar Pribićević

Liberal thinkers

• Antun Gustav Matoš^[1]
• Stjepan Radić^[1]
• Bogdan Raditsa^[1]
• Vlado Gotovac^[1]

See also

• History of Croatia
• Politics of Croatia

References

• Hrestomatija liberalnih ideja u Hrvatskoj (Croatian)