Determinante ideološke samoidentifikacije hrvatskih birača na parlamentarnim izborima 2003. godine
Determinants of Ideological Self-Identification Of Croatian Voters In The 2003 Parliamentary Elections

Summary/Abstract: Using the results of the poll on the eve of the 2003 parliamentary elections, the author analyzes the determinants of their ideological cleavages. The analysis shows that the most significant determinants are the attitudes concerning the role of tradition and the Catholic Church in the society, the role of women in the society, the attitude towards the minority groups and the attitude to the Croatian history, primarily regarding World War Two and the post-war period. The most important determinants of concrete ideological orientations in Croatia are those variables that measure the attitudes to traditional values and the role of the Church in the society, the attitude to the minorities and the position of women and the attitude to the history. While the attitudes to tradition and the role of the Catholic Church, and to a somewhat smaller extent to the minorities and the position of women in the society distinguish the liberals and socialdemocrats from the Christian-democrats, the attitude to the history distinguishes primarily the liberals from the social-democrats. The analysis has also shown that the variables measuring the attitude to the parties undoubtedly have the biggest influence on ideological self-identification, whether this is the left-right self-identification, or the identification with a concrete ideological orientation. However, in interpreting these results one should bear in mind that the causal link among these variables can be established both ways. Nevertheless, regarding the level of political sophistication of the public it might be said that the respondents will more easily identify with a party than an ideology, which for most voters is an abstract category. Party identification (preference) may be a consequence of a variety of factors ranging from the early political socialization in the family to the ideological affinity concerning certain issues or trust in party leadership etc.

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