The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors affecting reform patterns in Croatia in order to identify the main reasons for the (missing) reform success so far. The focus is on the analysis of ...the political system, especially on government fragmentation as one of the main features of proportional electoral rule and clientelism. In addition to political variables, economic factors are analysed as well. The obtained results show that reforms in Croatia were implemented during crises, that coalition governments are not conducive to reforms and that clientelism and corruption present significant obstacles for reform implementation in Croatia. Moreover, the results show that political cycles also have a significant effect, with reform activity slowing down as elections approach. This article contributes to the burgeoning debate on reform implementation (in the post-socialist societies) from the political economy perspective.
Majority of studies on the impact of the sports events on country's development are produced before the events take place and as such are in favour of the bidding process. When comparing these ex ...ante analyses to the ex post evidence, it has been in most cases obvious that they have been overly optimistic. This paper analyses the ex ante analysis provided by the Croatian bidding committee for the European Football Championship 2012. In addition to that, the ex ante study for the World Handball Championship 2009 in Croatia and (insufficient) data for the handball championships that took place in Serbia were analysed as well. This paper contributes both to the debate on the realistic approach of several failed and won bids, and the debate on the future bids for the other sport events.
Unlike their Western European and American counterparts, most young Croatian lawyers feel they lack the necessary career support during their studies and later at their workplace. Based on the recent ...primary data, this study investigates the career development services and experiences, perceived legal education-labour market (mis)match and mentoring insights among final year law students and recent graduates in Croatia. Preliminary findings indicate plenty of room for improvement both in transferring Western good practices and organically creating career support initiatives at the workplace and during legal studies. In addition, this study emphasises the (increased) importance of quality mentoring relations in the circumstances of exogenous shocks such as the global COVID-19pandemic.
This article investigates the role of socio-institutional constraints to immigrant entrepreneurship in post-communist countries of the Balkans. The study focuses on Croatia, a country where the ...immigrant population is still limited, but due to recent EU membership and sustained economic growth, it is expected to increase soon. The article draws upon a qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews with immigrant entrepreneurs and relevant stakeholders (including NGOs and research institutes' representatives). The findings contribute to the mixed embeddedness and institutional theories, as the study demonstrates a growing potential of immigrant entrepreneurship in Croatia, but also persistent barriers connected both with formal and informal institutions in the country. Interestingly, the informal institutions often present even a bigger obstacle for entrepreneurs originating from less developed, non-European countries than the formal ones. This finding indicates a moderating role of social and cultural capital in assessing informal institutions. As the foreign population in Croatia is still very small, immigrants cannot reap the benefits of ethnic concentration and ethnic solidarity. Therefore, for most foreigners in Croatia the embeddedness in immigrant networks of social relations is very limited. Consequently, the shortages in social and cultural capital, combined with a very limited openness towards natives make the access to informal institutions in Croatia very difficult, which in turn discourages entrepreneurial initiatives among immigrants.
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Party patronage combined with a collectivist culture appears to present a very resistant socialist legacy in Croatia. In-group favouritism and an overly bureaucratised system provide a fertile soil ...for uhljebs. An uhljeb is a public sector employee whose main 'competence' is membership of a political party or a nepotistic relationship. They now already count in the thousands, and often contribute to the further multiplication of uhljebs, and to an increase in clientelist arrangements. The practice of employing uhljebs both undermines and underpins the existing system. That ambivalence is one of the characteristics of the Russian sistema, and that is one of the important links to compare blat users and uhljebs, in addition to the practice of 'pulling strings'. As key protagonists, uhljebs and blat users illustrate their own and society's modus operandi: an intense 'economy of favours'. Recent studies increasingly show that cultural variables influence economic outcomes and this article presents an extension of the 'economy of favours' into Croatia's paradigm. Based on primary sources and international benchmarks, it provides a comparison of the cultural contexts of Eastern and Western European countries, and portrays a rising informal practice that, despite its omnipresence, has been under-researched in the academic literature.
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The article presents the results of the comparative analysis of the regulatory frameworks of social entrepreneurship in selected EU countries. It seeks to provide insights into the issue that would ...be of value for Croatia. Additional contribution of the research is the SWOT analysis of social entrepreneurship in Croatia based on the information obtained in the semi-structured interviews with key entrepreneurs and experts in the field. The purpose of the article is two- fold: firstly, to reaffirm social entrepreneurship and its potential, and secondly, to enhance the understanding and contribute to the discussion on the attempts to improve social entrepreneurship in Croatia.
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Post-Weberian definitions see the state–individual relationship as a “do ut des” one. The state grants protection, education, medical care, and its citizens contribute labour, compliance, and taxes. ...When this does not occur, it is generally accepted that the citizens are deviating from state goals. However, there are cases where lack of compliance stems from the fact that society members do not feel protected by formal structures, and they rely on informal ones to replace, supplement, or even compete with state institutions. The starting point of this article is that this lack of support may result from enhanced labour mobility (and migration) across Europe, and may enhance the creation and persistence of informal practices. Taking advantage of two case studies, Romanian migrants to Spain and ethnic entrepreneurs in Croatia, we observe how governance is constructed and provide two novel interpretative frameworks. First, we explore the use of informality (informal practices) to suggest that apparently insignificant actions that are repeated routinely and without much thought, are a way to contribute to the construction of the political and that everyday governance should receive more attention. Second, we use this claim to argue that a better understanding of informality can help identify governance areas where interventions are more urgent. These are the spheres of public life where it is possible to identify a larger gap between the wishes of a state and the ways citizens actually act as they informally avoid or bypass its rules.
The main objective of this paper is to explore the institutional convergence of Central and Eastern European Union member countries as a possible consequence of both the transfer of selected Western ...formal institutions to those countries and the adoption of acquis communautaire. This issue dates back to the beginning of the 1990s when the predominant expectation was that the successful formal institutions in Western countries would yield the same results in transition countries. In the meantime, mainly because of informal constraints, this has shown to be a misconception in most cases. The methodology used in the paper is twofold. First, by means of descriptive statistics, and using the varieties of capitalism approach, we show that, when analysing institutional quality using the Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI), there are two divergent groups of EU countries. The first group consists of Liberal, Nordic, and Continental countries, and the second consists of Mediterranean and CEE member states that are further divided into liberal and coordinated market economies. Second, based on the calculation of the σ- and unconditional β-convergence of governance trends in the period 1996–2019, we empirically confirm that there are also variations within the CEE countries as well as within the specific dimensions of governance.
U radu se analizira posljednji emigrantski val koji je započeo pridruživanjem Hrvatske Europskoj uniji. Odlazak visokokvalificiranog stanovništva u fokusu je rada. Nastoje se prepoznati ključni ...potisni i privlačni (push i pull) faktori tog fenomena i pritom se Hrvatska uspoređuje s (post)tranzicijskim članicama EU-a. Slijedom analize dosadašnjeg pristupa ovoj problematici i ukazivanja na nepovoljne ishode interakcije potisnih i privlačnih faktora, dodatni doprinos rada očituje se u preliminarnim smjernicama za kreiranje javnih politika prevencije odljeva mozgova, cirkularne migracije i (re)integracije visokokvalificiranog stanovništva.
The recent wave of emigration initiated by Croatia's entry into the European Union is analysed in this paper. The departure of the highly qualified population is the focus here. An attempt is made to provide insight into the key push and pull factors, or pressure and attracting factors of this phenomenon. At the same time, Croatia is compared with the (post)transitional members of the EU. After analysis of the approach to date towards this problem area and pointing out the negative outcomes of the interaction of the push and pull factors, this paper's additional contribution can be seen in the preliminary directions for creating public prevention polices for preventing brain drain, circulatory migration and the (re)integration of the highly qualified population.
Rad pruža komparativnu analizu regulatornih okvira društvenog poduzetništva izabranih država članica EU-a iz koje se nastoje dobiti relevantni uvidi za Hrvatsku. Poseban doprinos rada je u SWOT ...analizi društvenog poduzetništva u RH koja se temelji na saznanjima dobivenim u polustrukturiranim intervjuima s ključnim akterima i poznavateljima društveno-poduzetničke scene u RH. Cilj je rada dodatno afirmirati društveno poduzetništvo i njegov potencijal te produbiti konstruktivne rasprave o unaprjeđivanju istoga.
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