Direct democracy and the rise of political entrepreneurs: an analysis of citizens' initiatives in post-2010 Croatia

In: Anali Hrvatskog Politološkog Društva: Annals of the Croatian Political Science Association, Band 16, Heft 1, S. 27-48

Abstract

The last decade saw a rise in the use of direct democracy in Croatia. The proliferation of citizens' initiatives and referendums was meant to activate politically passive citizens and to strengthen their role as controllers of the executive. Our research, based on the qualitative analysis of the legal framework on citizens' initiatives and referendums in Croatia, as well as post-2010 initiatives, showed that this was not the case. Instead, political and social entrepreneurs, both long established, like trade unions, and newly formed, like conservative civil society organizations, used the tools of direct democracy to promote their particular anti-minority, anti-government or anti-establishment agendas. They succeeded in both constraining the power of the elite through the process of getting to the referendum and wresting control over the agenda-setting process post hoc. The added value of this paper lies in showing that citizens' initiatives can succeed in getting their demands met even when they are not successful in organizing referendums, which is due to weaknesses in the legal framework surrounding referendums and initiatives.