전문가 칼럼 중동부유럽┃[사회] 크로아티아

From ethnocentrism to political correctness:

the amplitudes of the images of foreigners in Croatia

Vjeran Katunarić
University of Zadar, Croatia/Professor in Department of Sociology

The article takes the case of negative reactions in Croatia to the newest wave of refugees
from the Middle East and North Africa as a pretext for presenting the images of foreign and
foreigners in Croatia in the last couple of decades. These images are characterized by
amplitudes spanning from ethnocentrism and intolerance to political correctness and a sort of
tolerance. Furthermore, views of foreign capital in Croatia are delineated in analogy with the
amplitudes of the former. Author concludes that good and bad are located within and across
the extant borders.

Primal reactions to the presence of others

Recently a Croatian web portal published article entitled "Croatia - a country of hypocrites
and dummies1)" . Understandably, the article skyrocketed in popularity on the web. Less
understandable, but, is the resolute statement, devised without question-mark. All the more so
because author of the article tried to appease his overstating right in the beginning of the
article, where he actually contradict to the title, noting that it does not concern "all of us /i.e.
Croats/, not even the majority". Who are, then, "hypocrites" and "dummies"?
The issue at stake, that exalted the spirits, concerns the reception of thousands of refugees
from Middle East and North Africa, who are currently coming through the "Balkan route"
heading farther north, primarily to Germany. Notably, for them, Germany is a "promised
land", whereas Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, Macedonia and Greece are taken as stations on the
way to the final destination. Notwithstanding the refugees' projections, reactive fears speared
against them in the transition lands could hardly be avoided. Yet, it can be reduced or
overwhelmed by in time favourable campaign by the government.
Furthermore, the re-emergence of xenophobia (resentment directed against others selected by
propaganda) in Croatia, as elsewhere in Europe, including Germany, becomes time and again
the political goldmine to the rise of the right-wing extremists. As far as Croatia is concerned,

1) Goran Vojković: Hrvatska: zemlja licemjernih i glupih ljudi.

http://www.index.hr/vijesti/clanak/hrvatska--zemlja-licemjernih-i-glupih-ljudi/837836.aspx

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this posture to the new migrants seems somewhat hypocritical indeed, as in 1960s and 1970s
Germany (at that time West Germany), the biggest immigration country in Europe at that
time, was perceived by the immigrant job seekers from Croatia as the "promised land2)" .
However, the Croatian guest workers (Gastarbeiters in German) did not experience anything
that resembles the current "reception" of Middle Easterners and North Africans, i.e. what they
experience nowadays by their "hosts". The main reason, of course, is that the Croatian
immigrants in Germany and other West European countries enjoyed the opportunities provided
by the welfare state economy which desperately needed foreign workers.
Today's Croats who "honour" the refugees with derogatory nicknames (e.g. "Islamists' fifth
column") are mainly young people who use the Net to speak out the hate-speech. Albeit their
views do not reflect properly the views of the Croatian mainstream, it is, on the other hand,
paradoxical that the repulsive voices pop up on the Net, the key communication device of the
new millennium. This case repeatedly illustrates the fallacy of modernism, the belief that the
technological progress that enables the spread of communicational links around the globe
entails a universalistic consciousness, devoid of the parochialism, i.e. ethnocentrism and
intolerance. It does, of course, but among a relative minority of (non-biased) people. Putting
aside the extremists, the socio-cultural mainstream consists of people with ambiguous views.
They, in principle, have nothing against others, even including the newcomers, but do not
want establish close connections with them3).
Even a Croatian politician, beforehand reputed as a modern and open minded, joined the
choir of xenophobes. He posed a rhetorical, yet basically demagogic, question: "Why Qatar,
Kuwait, United Arab Emirates or Saudi Arabia do not receive the refugees4)?" . Concurrently,
Croatian politicians belonging to major parliamentary parties carefully pick up correct phrases
of political correctness. They also remind that Croatia has assumed the obligations from the
EU to increase its quota of refugees to be received in Croatia.
Amplitudes will most likely make their routes in this case as well, as it happened with
Croatian views of Serbs and Serbia following the end of the war (1991-1995). Over time
tolerance (re)appears in speeches of leading politicians and spreads top-down. This is the
highway of the peace processes and of adoption of tolerance in broader society. And vice
versa, for in 1990s intolerance was predominant among political (and other) elites and
reinforced by a larger part of the society.

2) Silva Mežnarić, "Sociology of Migration in Yugoslavia". Current Sociology 32 (1984): 41-88.

3) The ambiguous position may be established by the means of so called Bogardus scale of social distance. The
scale consists of seven degrees. The first degree signifies full acceptance of members of another (ethnic) group
(e.g. as a spouse), while seventh degree means exclusion, including denial of the possibility of being a visitor to
respondent's country. Other attitudes are distributed in between these two poles and are inherently ambiguous
(cf. Triandis, H. C.; Triandis, L. M. "Race, social class, religion, and nationality as determinants of social
distance". The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 61 (1960): 110-118.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0041734
4) "Kajin: Zašto migrante ne prihvaćaju Katar, Kuvajt, Emirati ili Arabija?"
http://vijesti.hrt.hr/295978/kajin-zasto-migrante-ne-prihvacaju-katar-kuvajt-emirati-ili-arabija".

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Xenophobia and xenophilia: two sides of the coin

Croatian xenophobia, thus, is replete with amplitudes. Albeit repulsive reactions to
newcomers are basically primitive. i.e. much older than nationalism, contemporary nationalism
provokes primitive reactions in situations of political and economic crises of institutional
order, especially when these lead to wars. Today's wars in the Middle East and turmoil in
North Africa, triggered by the new nationalisms in combination with the religious
fundamentalism, produce similar consequences: a growing mass of refugees hailed with
resentments in their new locations, and Croatia is such a place.
In a similar vein, war in Croatia5) triggered ethnocentric prejudices among Croats and
Serbs. Beforehand, the repulsive attitudes were in most cases latent (and frequently suppressed
by the regime) or virtually absent (among nearly 10 % of people who expressed
anti-authoritarian attitudes), while proportions of the overt expression of ethnocentrism were
relatively small6). By the same token, at that time Croats and Serbs were not seen as
"foreign" to each other. Serbs in Croatia, for example, were officially denoted as the native
people (a "constitutive people") next to the Croats, and are even considered "brothers" (in
accordance with the official rhetoric of the ruling party, the League of Communists). In
1990s, but, the ideological makeup has profoundly been changed and the former slogan
"fraternize!" was actually replaced by "separate!". As a result of the turnover, most Croats and
Serbs perceived each other as "foreigners" and "enemies", respectively. In sociological terms,
the two peoples expressed the biggest social distance toward each other. In surveys carried
out in Croatia and Serbia at that time, some 40 percent of respondents expressed their
disagreement with giving permission to the others to visit Croatia and Serbia, respectively7).
As time goes by, such attitudes become less common.
The opposite term to xenophobia, xenophilia (positive feelings and attraction to foreigners)
is, more often than not, the other side of the coin. In Croatia, xenophilia is motivated mostly
by tourism and its lucrative benefits. Unlike refugees, tourists fill the private pockets and the
state budget. This is good for the domestic economy, but is less good in the struggle against
hypocrisy. Why human beings in troubles are not welcome in our own backyards? Also, why
tourists are viewed as the walking coffers? Most importantly, are there some normal or less
biased views of the others? If yes, how they look like?

Back to normality: the political correctness and Hobbesian equilibrium

In the last ten years or so, the "love & hate" pendulum swung again. The social distance

5) War fought in Croatia was one of several wars of the former Yugoslavia. The series ended up with war between
ethnic Albanians and ethnic Macedonians in the Republic of Macedonia.
6) Vjeran Katunarić, 'Multi-ethnic Yugoslavia and political change with particular reference to Croatia'. 61
(1992):123-43.
7) Vjeran Katunarić, "Sirens and Muses: Culture in Conflict and Peace Process in the Former Yugoslavia". Cultural
Policy and Action Department, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, France, 2001.
http://www.intercultural-europe.org/site/database/publication/sirens-muses-culture-conflict-peace-process-forme
r-yugoslavia.

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of Croats toward Serbs has significantly declined and a sort of tolerance has accordingly been
enhanced8). This change has primarily been caused by post-conflict and peace processes in
the area, which started in the beginning of the 21st century and was widely supported by the
international community, primarily by UN and EU. Following example illustrates the extent of
the change: today, Croatia's second largest export goes to Serbia9). In addition, cultural ties
between these and other republics of the former Yugoslavia are largely renewed10). Last, but
not least, most politicians on both sides developed the rhetoric of political correctness toward
other nationalities. This is usually followed by top-down spread of tolerance, which renders
again most efficient means of managing over the peace processes11) Still, war is not the
only trigger of the negative social feelings. Memories on the war are too. They open old
wounds, though negative effects do not last so long as in the period of war. For example,
recent celebration of the twentieth anniversary of Croatian military-police campaign "Storm"
(conducted in 1995), has provoked a bitter political response in Serbia12).
Because of such liability this level of tolerance is usually designated as the "Hobbesian
equilibrium" (the paraphrase of Thomas Hobbes's concept of the social contract). In essence, it
is tolerance without essence, without deeper resonance resulting with the mutual trust. This
type of social and mental equilibrium registers merely the absence of war and peace is
understood in such terms as well. Fortunately, in this case EU performs one of its better
roles as the key international mediator in the region. It exerts equal pressure on all parties to
appease or relinquish their rhetoric of historicism (who is to be blamed for what in the past
century) and to further on with projects of the common interest and future.

Amplitudes of the views of the foreign capital: deconstructing the bad guy
The cycles of changing views of the others are pertained to images of the foreign capital
as well. The emergence of foreign companies in Croatia in the 1990s triggered mixed feeling
s13). Croatian mainstream economists along with liberal oriented politicians welcomed the
arrival of the foreign private capital, sometimes uncritically14) and not without ambiguity as
regards the impact of foreign banks on the domestic economy15).

8) Duško Sekulić, Identitet i vrijednosti (Identity and Values). Zagreb, Politička kultura, 2014.
9) See: https://vlada.gov.hr/vijesti/hrvatski-izvoz-u-devet-mjeseci-porastao-10-1-posto/15289.
10) Vjeran Katunarić, "The Renewal of the Balkan Cultural Space". Balkan Syntheses 2 (2014). Forthcoming.
11) Boris Banovac, Vjeran Katunarić, Marko Mrakovčić, "From War to Tolerance. Bottom-Up and Top-Down
Approaches to (Re)building Interethnic Ties in the Areas of the Former Yugoslavia". Zbornik Pravnog fakulteta
Sveučilišta u Rijeci 35 (2014): 455-483.
12) The operation started on August 10, 1995, and it succeeded with liberating a territory previously occupied by
rebelled Serbs in Croatia. The anniversary of the battle is celebrated as a national holiday in Croatia, yet as the
Day of mourning in Serbia.
13) Cf. Drago Čengić, Maja Vehovec, eds., Poduzetništvo, institucije i sociokulturni kapital (Entrepreneurship, institutions and
sociocultural capital). Zagreb: Institut za društvena istraživanja Ivo Pilar, 2002
14) For example by asserting that any foreign private performs better economic effect than state companies in
Croatia
(cf. Velimir Šonje, "Ekonomija i sociologija : budi li se novi dijalog?" (Economics and sociology: is a new dialogue on the
way?). Društvena istraživanja 74 (2004): 1181-1196
15) Almost the entire banking sector in Croatia is in the hands of (conditionally speaking, again) foreign banks.
Nevertheless, their impact on the domestic economy, as the Governor of the Croatian National Bank stated, is

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In contrast, the populist rhetoric was (expectedly) xenophobic. The populists are prone as
well to take foreign capital(ism) as the scapegoat. The history of this resentment dates back
to National Socialism, i.e. Nazism, the ideology - conditionally speaking, German - notorious
of its anti-Semitic portrait of the international capitalism. In truth, the belief according to
which domestic private companies, unlike the foreign ones, are patriotic-driven, is older and it
originates in the epoch of the mercantilism of the imperial powers. The modern, republican
economic nationalism and protectionism is the heir of that policy.
To be sure, the ethnocentric prejudice, as any other, may contain a "grain of truth", as
social psychologists use to say. For example, some Croatian employers employ their
compatriots rather than others, but their disregard of the breadth of the demand-side may cost
them dearly. Hence, the rest of the patriotic construction is false. Nationality of economic
actors is indeed irrelevant. The anti-market propaganda is a product of mystification of the
putative magnitude of social solidarity based on nationalistic mobilization. This effect in
economy is short-termed and the ritual usually ends up with symbolic demonstrations of
generous donations to poor. Likewise, it is not only foreign capital that interested into gaining
quick-and-easy-money. It is also a false argument that domestic industries and products,
whether private- or state-run, are more efficient in terms of economic growth and labour
fluctuation, or that their employees have higher earnings and safer conditions on the
workplace than foreign owned private companies. Certainly, opposite may be true as well, yet
only in some portions. For example, wages of employees in a foreign (private) trade company
in Croatia are double higher than wages of employees in a domestic also private) trade
company in the same branch (large stores)16).
Similarly happened with the state-sponsored campaign "Buy Croatian" ("Kupujmo hrvatsko"),
that started several years ago, which EU representatives have taken as an issue. To be sure,
the campaign is considered legitimate, yet again in a populist sense. Nevertheless, broader
impact of the slogan was provisory, which is again typical of the nationalistic enthusiasm.
People in Croatia en masse supported the slogan at first glance, hoping that domestic products
will accordingly be either less expensive or a better quality. In most cases, it did not happen.
Another issue is the legality of the campaign. It is questionable even with regard to the
relevant WTO-rules, save the freedom of choice of foreign producers and domestic consumers.
Eventually, most Croatian consumers abandoned the campaign.

Good and bad guys: domestic and foreign

Globalization requires redefining the meanings of domestic and foreign, putting their
interplay on the new grounds. Rational and democracy-friendly forms of capital(ism) - of

mainly positive (http://www.banka.hr/hrvatska/intervju-guverner-hnb-a-boris-vujcic). Ambiguity has mostly

been provoked with the case of Swiss franc-loans. Couple of years ago, an enormous increase of the repayment
rates, due to the heightening exchange rate of the Swiss franc, caused revolt of many clients (mainly private
households) and they have subsequently instigated legal complaints. Similar repercussions with credit-loans in
Swiss francs occurred in Hungary, Rumania and Poland - cf. https://euobserver.com/beyond-brussels/127284.
16) http://www.vecernji.hr/hrvatska/placa-trgovca-dm-a-5500-kuna-visa-nego-u-studencu-prosjek-3200-kuna-996887

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course, not only in Croatia - enable expansion of employment opportunities, introduce

innovations, improve managerial styles, pay taxes on regular basis, and also pay respect to
employees' rights. Maybe this sounds idealistic, but realism in the economy and in politics
alike does not provide solutions for burning issues. Rather, realism promotes opportunism and
cynicism. In essence, it is a double bind politics. It is populist and demagogic in pre-election
campaign and, upon the assumption of power, it resorts to austerity and other unpopular
policies. At least, this is the pattern of the national politics in Croatia in last two decades.
The same goes to traditional socio-cultural meanings of domestic and foreign, which did not
withstand the test of time. Traditionally, foreigner is a stranger, someone who does not belong
to the in-group due to his/her ethnicity, religion, skin-colour, gender or habits. In colonial
times, natives marked foreigners or strangers as colonizers who were bosses of "imperialistic
servants" in the colony. Albeit neo-colonialism exists, playing cards are more and more
mixed. In the end, which is embarrassing to patriotic spirits, actors who genuinely contribute
to national development are located on the both sides, i.e. within and across the extant
borders. Hence, the most challenging issue concerns the new opening. A Swedish economic
expert rightly illustrates the sense of the opening as the coming of age of Croatia and the
Southeast European region on the whole:
"This needs to change – in Hungary, Turkey and Croatia to mention a few – it’s more
about “getting” than “giving”... But that caveat aside, this region offers great hope for Europe
as a whole.../T/here is plenty of time and room for improvement. I remain extremely positive
about this region’s ability to renew and deal with problems, but the region overall now needs
to act its age and grow up17)."
The most reliable sign of the maturation will probably appear by virtue of productive
interactions between formerly ethnocentric and exocentric players.

[References]

Banovac, Boris; Katunarić, Vjeran; Mrakovčić, Marko. "From War to Tolerance. Bottom-Up
and Top-Down Approaches to (Re)building Interethnic Ties in the Areas of the Former
Yugoslavia". Zbornik Pravnog fakulteta Sveučilišta u Rijeci 35 (2014): 455-483.
Čengić, Drago; Maja Vehovec, M., eds., Poduzetništvo, institucije i sociokulturni kapital
(Entrepreneurship, institutions and sociocultural capital). Zagreb: Institut za društvena
istraživanja Ivo Pilar, 2002
http://www.banka.hr/hrvatska/intervju-guverner-hnb-a-boris-vujcic Accessed August 26, 2015.
https://vlada.gov.hr/vijesti/hrvatski-izvoz-u-devet-mjeseci-porastao-10-1-posto/15289 Accessed
August 27, 2015.

17) Steen Jacobsen, " CEE Explained: Growing up, at last"

https://www.tradingfloor.com/posts/cee-explained-growing-up-at-last-6033367

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전문가 칼럼 중동부유럽┃[사회] 크로아티아

https://euobserver.com/beyond-brussels/127284 Accessed August 25, 2015

Jacobsen, Steen. "CEE Explained: Growing up, at last"
https://www.tradingfloor.com/posts/cee-explained-growing-up-at-last-6033367 Accessed August
15, 2015.
"Kajin: Zašto migrante ne prihvaćaju Katar, Kuvajt, Emirati ili Arabija?"
http://vijesti.hrt.hr/295978/kajin-zasto-migrante-ne-prihvacaju-katar-kuvajt-emirati-ili-arabija
Accessed August 27, 2015.
Katunarić, Vjeran. "Multi-ethnic Yugoslavia and political change with particular reference to
Croatia". 61 (1992):123-43.
Katunarić, Vjeran. "Sirens and Muses: Culture in Conflict and Peace Process in the Former
Yugoslavia". Cultural Policy and Action Department, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, France,
2001.
http://www.intercultural-europe.org/site/database/publication/sirens-muses-culture-conflict-peace-pro
cess-former-yugoslavia Accessed August 28, 2015.
Katunarić, Vjeran. "The Renewal of the Balkan Cultural Space". Balkan Syntheses 2 (2014).
Forthcoming.
Mežnarić, Silva. "Sociology of Migration in Yugoslavia". Current Sociology 32 (1984):
41-88.
Sekulić, Duško. Identitet i vrijednosti (Identity and Values). Zagreb, Politička kultura, 2014.
Triandis, H. C.; Triandis, L. M. "Race, social class, religion, and nationality as
determinants of social distance". The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 61 (1960):
110-118. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0041734 Accessed August 29. 2015.
Šonje, Velimir. "Ekonomija i sociologija : budi li se novi dijalog?" (Economics and
sociology: is a new dialogue on the way?). Društvena istraživanja 74 (2004): 1181-1196
Vojković, Goran. Hrvatska: zemlja licemjernih i glupih ljudi.
http://www.index.hr/vijesti/clanak/hrvatska--zemlja-licemjernih-i-glupih-ljudi/837836.aspx
Accessed August 26, 2015.

작성일: 2015년 9월 9일

EMERiCs의 사전 동의 없이, 상업 상 또는 다른 목적으로 본 칼럼의 내용을 전재하거나 제 3자에게 배포하는 것

을 금합니다. 본 칼럼에 대한 저작권 책임은 작성자 본인에게 있으며 KIEP 및 EMERiCs의 공식적인 입장을 대변하고
있지 않습니다.

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