Liberalism in Croatia
# Liberalism in Croatia

This article gives an overview of liberalism in Croatia. Liberals became active since 1860 in Dalmatia and since 1904 in the rest of Croatia. It never became a major political party. 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.

## History

After the restoration of democracy in 1989 liberalism became very divided. At the moment (August, 2017) one could distinguish five parties: the right of center Croatian Social Liberal Party (Hrvatska socijalno-liberalna stranka, member LI, ELDR), two center liberal parties: Croatian People's Party-Liberal Democrats (Hrvatska narodna stranka - liberalni demokrati, observer LI, member ELDR) and People's Party - Reformists (Narodna stranka – reformisti, member EDP), while left of center is Civic Liberal Alliance (Građansko-liberalni savez, GLAS). Reformists and GLAS are formed from dissidents of the Croatian People's Party-Liberal Democrats. Istrian Democratic Assembly (Istarski demokratski sabor - Dieta Democratica Istriana, member EDP) is considered as Istrian regionalist, but also as a liberal party. 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 (People's Party)**

* 1860: National liberals formed in Dalmatia the National party known also as the People's Party (Narodna stranka). The party developed into a conservative party around 1889.

**From Progressive Party to Progressive Democratic Party**

* 1904: Progressive liberals formed in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia 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 Rights (Hrvatska stranka 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 form 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)
* 2014: A faction secedes to form the ⇒ People's Party - Reformists
* 2017: A left-wing faction formed the ⇒ Civic Liberal Alliance

**Liberal Party**

* 1998: A left-wing faction of the ⇒ Croatian Social Liberal Party formed the Liberal Party (Liberalna stranka)
* 2006: The majority of the Liberal Party merges into the ⇒Croatian Social Liberal Party.

**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

**People's Party - Reformists**

* 2014: A faction led by former party leader Radimir Čačić left the ⇒Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats to form People's Party - Reformists (Narodna stranka - reformisti).

**Civic Liberal Alliance**

* July, 2017: A faction of the ⇒Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats led by Anka Mrak Taritaš, MP (and 2017 Zagreb mayoress candidate) together with three other MPs formed the Civic Liberal Alliance (Građansko-liberalni savez known as GLAS), after the majority of the Croatian People's Party-Liberal Democrats had concluded the coalition agreement with the right of center Croatian Democratic Union and entered into the Cabinet of Andrej Plenković.

## Liberal leaders

* Svetozar Pribićević
* Savka Dabčević-Kučar
* Dražen Budiša
* Vesna Pusić
* Radimir Čačić
* Anka Mrak-Taritaš

## Liberal thinkers

* Antun Gustav Matoš
* Ante Trumbić
* Ivan Lorković
* Stjepan Radić
* Bogdan Raditsa
* Vlado Gotovac
