Croatian and Human Rights 1990-1992 – Research framework: Ethnocentrism, Authoritarian Populism, Human Rights and Democracy

Ovaj rad predstavlja prilog istraživanju problematike ljudskih prava i razvoja demokracije u Hrvatskoj u povijesnom kontekstu raspada Jugoslavije, uspostave hrvatske države i tranzicije hrvatskoga društva 1990.-1992. godine. Rad je dio šire studije i bavi se s dva aspekta teme: relevantnosti ljudskih prava za najnoviju povijest Hrvatske i historiografskom dimenzijom pojave i sprege etnocentrizma i autoritarnog populizma kao obilježja nacionalnih homogenizacija početkom devedesetih godina u Srbiji i Hrvatskoj (bivšoj Jugoslaviji). Rad također predstavlja metodološki pokušaj interdisciplinarnog povezivanja različitih - prije svega politoloških - aspekata osnovne teme: značajki i polazišta stajališta novih političkih elita, recepciju vrijednosnih određenja u uvjetima tranzicije i rata, razumijevanje odnosa nacionalnog interesa i demokratizacije (čija je sastavnica usvajanje načela zaštite ljudskih prava) i sl. U širem okviru apostrofira se problematika odnosa nacionalizma i demokracije u diskursu nove političke elite nakon uvođenja političkog pluralizma. Te pojave ilustrirane su aktualnim i naknadnim zapažanjima sudionika i analitičara toga povijesnog razdoblja te autoru dostupnim dokumentima.The author is concerned with the relevance of human rights for the contemporary history of Croatia as well as the historiographical dimension of the appearance and combination of ethnocentrism and authoritarian populism as a framework for national homogenization in Serbia and Croatia (former Yugoslavia) at the beginning of the 1990s. In the article he attempts to tie together various – above all, political – aspects of the basic theme: the origin and meaning of the ideas of the new political elites, the reception of value positions at a time of transition and war, an understanding of the relationship between national interests and democratization (whose point of contact is the acceptance of the principle of the protection of human rights), etc. In broader terms, he focuses on the problem of the relationship between nationalism and democracy in the discourse of the new political elites after the introduction of political pluralism. At the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s the process of national homogenization became the dominant social process in Yugoslavia, and this was confirmed by the appearance of authoritarian populism and ethnocentrism. In a historical sense, these forces had their chronological point of origin in Serbia, and because of a number of historical circumstances – including the reaction to the policies of the Serbian political elite – these developments took particular forms in other Republics (and among other peoples). Modern historiography has to examine and contextualize particular forms of “ethnic cleansing” – the creation of ethnically homogenous areas, as well as establish the correlation to and historical significance of the “nationalism” that developed among the peoples of the former Yugoslavia. The role of the inter