Hrvatska politička elita na početku demokratske tranzicije
The Croatian Political Elite at the Beginning of the Democratic Transition

Summary/Abstract: The paper presents an overview of the emergence and shaping of the Croatian political elite at the beginning of the democratic transition over the period from spring 1989 to late August 1990, when the first Government (Executive Council of the (Socialist) Republic of Croatia) was dissolved. The introductory section defines the concept of the political elite and the fundamentals of examining its recruitment. Thereafter, the formation and the mode of recruitment of political elites in transitional countries is discussed. The main part of the paper examines the particular Croatian experience of the formation and recruitment of the political elite. The electoral winners in the first multi-party and founding election held in spring 1990 were elected based on legal rules and procedures introduced by the former, Communist government. The legislative branch of government was institutionalised through three Councils to which 351 representatives were elected from among more than 1.600 candidates. On the other hand, the executive was divided between the Executive Council (Government), Stjepan Mesić being the first Prime Minister, and the Presidency of the (Socialist) Republic of Croatia, as a collective body, presided by Franjo Tuđman elected to the post by a majority of votes of MPs.

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