CROATIAN PERCEPTION OF WAR – BETWEEN THE LIBERAL AND NATIONAL-PATHETIC

Dok su 1990-ih teoretičari koji su razvijali koncepcije „društava bez rata” ili „postvojnih društava” na Zapadu predstavljali mainstream, hrvatska ratna stvarnost nije davala izglednih šansi tim koncepcijama na širem prostoru jugoistočne Europe. Međutim, dvadesetak godina poslije, usprkos radikalizaciji i militarizaciji javnog političkog govora i sve češćeg zazivanja aktivnijeg korištenja vojske u nevojne svrhe, u Hrvatskoj su ključni elementi koncepcije „postvojnog društva” prisutniji nego u mnogim državama „staroga” Zapada. S druge strane, u odnosu hrvatskoga društva prema ratu i vojsci prisutna je ambivalentnost koja dovodi u pitanje mogućnost primjene svih poznatih teorijskih pravaca. U Hrvatskoj su rat i vojska bili, a u velikoj mjeri i ostali, na margini interesa društvenih znanosti, a civilno-vojni odnosi u javnom prostoru, pa čak i znanstvenoj zajednici, tretirani su tek u kontekstu prigodničarskog i patetičnog lamentiranja o „odnosu prema Domovinskom ratu” ili „odnosu prema braniteljima”. Uz to, u Hrvatskoj vojna teorija doslovno ne postoji. Iako hrvatsko društvo pokazuje ispodprosječan interes za obrambene i sigurnosne teme, javni prostor je u velikoj mjeri militariziran, a iskustvo Domovinskog rata je najizdašnije izvorište te militarizacije.Theorists who developed the concept of “warless societies” or “post military societies” represented the mainstream in the West during the nineties of the 20th century. But, these concepts did not have prospective opportunities in the wider area of South Eastern Europe because of war. However, twenty years later, despite the radicalization and militarization of public political discourse, despite the frequent invocation of more active use of the military for non-military purposes, the key elements of the concept of “post military society” in Croatia are more present than in many countries of the “old” West. On the other side in Croatian society such a degree of ambivalence has been present towards the war and the army, which jeopardizes the possibility of applying all known theoretical approaches. The war and the military have been the area of the marginal interest of social science disciplines in Croatia, and civil-military relations in the public area, and even in the academic community, have been treated only in the context of meaningless and pathetic lamentations about “attitude towards Homeland War” or “relationship to war veterans”. In addition, military theory in Croatia, literally, does not exist. On the one hand, the Croatian society shows below-average interest in defence and security issues, and on the other hand the public space is largely militarized, and the experience of the Homeland War is the most abundant source of the militarization