CROATIA

officially Republic Of Croatia, Serbo-Croatian Hrvatska, or Republika Hrvatska country in the west-central Balkans. For most of the period from 1919 to 1991, Croatia was part of what came to be called Yugoslavia. Croatia extends in a crescent from the fertile plains of the Danube, Drava, and Sava rivers in the east to the Gulf of Venice in the west and then southward along the Adriatic Sea to the border of Montenegro (in Yugoslavia). It is bounded by Slovenia in the northwest, by Hungary in the north, by Yugoslavia (the Vojvodina province of Serbia) in the east, and by Bosnia and Herzegovina in the south. To the west is the Adriatic Sea. The capital is Zagreb. Area 21,829 square miles (56,538 square km). Pop. (1993 est.) 4,826,000. officially Republic of Croatia, Serbo-Croatian Hrvatska, or Republika Hrvatska, country located in the northwestern part of the Balkan Peninsula. It is a small yet highly diverse, crescent-shaped country. The upper arm of the Croatian crescent is bordered on the east by the Vojvodina region of Serbia and on the north by Hungary and Slovenia. The body of the crescent forms a long coastal strip along the Adriatic Sea, and the southern tip touches on Montenegro. Within the hollow of the crescent, Croatia shares a long border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, which actually severs a part of southern Croatia from the rest of the country by penetrating to the Adriatic in a narrow corridor. The total area of the country is 21,829 square miles (56,538 square kilometres). Its capital is Zagreb, located in the north. The modern-day republic is composed of the historically Croatian regions of Croatia-Slavonia (located in the upper arm of the country), Istria (centred on the Istrian Peninsula on the northern Adriatic coast), and Dalmatia (corresponding to the coastal strip). Although these regions were ruled for centuries by various foreign powers, they remained firmly Western-oriented in culture, acquiring a legacy of Roman law, Latin alphabet, and western European political and economic traditions and institutions. Since the 1960s, the geographic beauty and cultural diversity of Croatia have attracted an increasing number of tourists, enabling the country to survive as a place where cultural intermingling is the norm while adding substantially to its economic development. Additional reading The first half of Jugoslavenski Leksikografski Zavod "miroslav Krleza," Enciklopedija Jugoslavije, 2nd ed., vol. 5 (1988), is a comprehensive study of Croatia, covering all aspects of physical and human geography as well as history. Francis H. Eterovich (ed.), Croatia: Land, People, Culture, 2 vol. (196470, reissued 1976), is accessible to the general reader and includes coverage of Croatia in the post-World War II period up to 1960. Ivo Banac, The National Question in Yugoslavia: Origins, History, Politics (1984), offers excellent background on Yugoslavia's national problems, including the Serb-Croat conflict. Dijana Pletina, Democracy and Nationalism in Croatia: The First Three Years, in Sabrina Petra Ramet and Ljubia Adamovich (eds.), Beyond Yugoslavia: Politics, Economics, and Culture in a Shattered Community (1995), pp. 123154, is also useful. Dijana Pletina Administration and social conditions Constitutional government On Dec. 22, 1990, the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia was promulgated. In addition to such classic civil rights as freedom of speech, religion, information, and association, the equality of nationalities is guaranteed in a number of constitutional articles. Cultural autonomy, along with the right to use one's language and script (the latter specifically intended for the Serb minority), is also guaranteed. The 1990 constitution changed the structure of the Sabor, or parliament, from a tricameral body under the Yugoslav system to a bicameral body consisting of the House of Representatives (or Lower House) and the House of Districts (or Upper House). The House of Representatives is the more powerful chamber, making decisions on such vital matters as the constitution, the laws of the land, the state budget, war and peace, and international borders. Of its members, 124 are elected by secret ballot every four years; approximately half are seated in numbers proportional to their party's share of the national vote, and half are seated strictly by plurality vote. In addition, national minorities that make up less than 8 percent of the total population have the right to elect at least five representatives, while those that make up more than 8 percent (in effect, only the Serbs) are guaranteed representation proportional to their population. The House of Districts has mainly an advisory role, although it can return legislation to the House of Representatives for amendment within 15 days of its passage. It is composed of three representatives elected by majority vote from 20 administrative districts called zupanije and from the capital city of Zagreb. In addition, five representatives may be appointed by the president. Aside from the zupanije there are two special districts called kotari, where Serbs constitute a majority and where they are granted cultural autonomy and a greater measure of local self-government. Within the zupanije are 450 opcine, or municipalities. The president of the Republic of Croatia is elected directly by majority vote for a period of five years and is limited to two terms. The powers of the president are so broad as to make him into a super-president. In addition to appointing and dismissing the prime minister and (on the latter's proposal) the cabinet and other members of government, the president is the supreme commander of the armed forces and has the power to institute emergency ordinances that have the force of law. As head of government, the prime minister is formally the leader of the executive branch. Nominated by the president and approved by parliament, the prime minister is nominally responsible to both, but he is actually far more oriented toward the president, on whom he is directly dependent. The independence of the judiciary is formally guaranteed by the constitution, which further stipulates that judges are appointed for life. Education During its 45 years in power, the communist Yugoslav regime reduced illiteracy in Croatia from 16 percent of the population over 10 years of age to less than 4 percent. In addition to thousands of elementary schools, secondary schools, commercial and technical institutions, and vocational schools, the emphasis on education led to the founding of universities in Rijeka in 1973, in Split in 1974, and in Osijek in 1975. The oldest university in Croatia is the University of Zagreb, which dates its beginnings to a Jesuit school of moral theology founded in 1632. Cultural life The Yugoslav version of communismwhich, following the 1948 break with the Soviet Union and the Cominform, evolved into a more flexible national path to socialismallowed far greater autonomy and self-expression in cultural and other spheres of life than did most of its socialist neighbours. As a result, Croatian culture has been able to develop in continuity with the Western heritage of which it has long been a part and to which it has contributed for the last 1,000 years. Among the modern giants in Croatian literature are the much-translated novelist, poet, essayist, dramatist, polemicist, and critic Miroslav Krleza (18931981) and the lyric poet, essayist, and translator Tin Ujevic (18911955), both of whom treat man's psychological and sociopolitical struggles at both individual and universal levels. The monumental sculptures of Ivan Metrovic (18831962), whom the French sculptor Auguste Rodin once called the biggest phenomenon among sculptors, synthesize a particularly Croatian national romanticism with the entire European tradition. Croatian naive painting, through a simple depiction of the timeless concerns of men and women caught within the cycles of the seasons and of life, has struck a universal chord and has brought worldwide fame to its main exponents, Ivan Generalic (191492), Ivan Rabuzin (1919 ), and Ivan Lackovic-Croata (1932 ). In film, the Zagreb school of film animation has acquired world renown and recognition, including an Academy Award in 1961 for Duan Vukotic's animated film The Substitute. Dijana Pletina