DOES A CROATIAN DEEP STATE EXIST? ANALYSIS OF DEEP STATE PERCEPTION AMONG CROATIAN POLITICIANS

U radu se analiziraju oblici percepcije postojanja duboke države u Hrvatskoj ‎kod političara kao skupine. Prikazom relevantne literature te provedenih istraživanja ‎o rasprostranjenosti teorija zavjera u Hrvatskoj (posebice onih u vezi‎ s postojanjem duboke države), postavljaju se temelji na kojima se razrađuje ‎eksplorativna analiza polustrukturiranih intervjua s hrvatskim političarima.‎ Glavni nalazi analize intervjua ukazuju na prisutnost percepcije postojanja ‎duboke države među političarima svih političkih skupina te na raznovrsnost‎ načina kojima je ona percipirana i opisana. Iako se percepcije oblika duboke‎ države među ispitanicima razlikuju, svi koji smatraju da ona postoji dijele‎ pesimistično viđenje sadašnjosti i uvjerenje da u kontroverznim događajima‎ bitnu ulogu imaju skrivene interesne skupine.‎The article analyses and discusses conspiracy theories – specifically, the conspiracy ‎theories regarding the existence of a deep state – in order to investigate ‎whether this perception exists among Croatian politicians as a group,‎ and if it does, which forms it takes. By presenting relevant literature dealing ‎with conspiracy theories and the deep state, as well as conducted research on‎ how widespread conspiracy theories (especially the ones concerning the deep‎state) are in Croatia, a foundation is established for an explorative analysis‎of open-form interviews with Croatian politicians. The main findings of the‎ analysis point to the fact that the perception of the existence of a deep state ‎in Croatia is present among politicians of all political backgrounds, and that‎ there is a multitude of descriptions on how it operates and behaves. Despite ‎the differences between individual perceptions, all who perceived the deep‎state as an existing phenomenon share a pessimistic vision of the current Croatian‎ situation, as well as a shared belief that hidden interest groups participated ‎and operated in controversial past events in Croatia.