Who Fights First: Grievances, Community and Collective Action
Who Fights First: Grievances, Community and Collective Action

Summary/Abstract: In this article I examine the participation of the earliest entrants in the War in Croatia (1991-1995). I address the greed/grievance debate within the conflict literature by demonstrating that measuring grievances at the macro level misses the micro level processes involved in mobilization. Using interviews with 21 Croatian war veterans, I look at who fought first, comparing the initial differences between early and later participants, those who joined before June 25, 1991, and those that joined after. I argue that early joiners belonged to a bounded community of those disaffected with Yugoslavia and Communism; however, these grievances alone do not explain their participation, rather it was an individual’s inclusion in the dissident community and the social relationships within that community that clarify how the first participants were mobilized. The findings show that all but one of the earliest joiners who joined through a social connection belonged to Croatia’s dissident community and were from families that supported NDH. The other joiners joined by themselves after encountering violence from the fighting first hand. The majority of the later joiners joined after experiencing violence as well. Two of the three who joined through a social connection were also part of the dissident community and from NDH associated families.

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