War and the Changes in Social Distance Toward the Ethnic Minorities in Croatia
War and the Changes in Social Distance Toward the Ethnic Minorities in Croatia

Summary/Abstract: The author analyses two basic issues: First, has the attitude toward the members of the ethnic minorities in Croatia changed in view of the war — and to what extent; and second, to what extent the attitude toward the minorities is the variable of the “ideological” rift in the electoral bodies of political parties. By comparing the data on the social distance before 1990 and after the collapse of the former Yugoslavia, and focusing on the study carried out in 1997, three conclusions have been made: 1. The war has brought about certain changes in the attitude toward the minority ethnic groups. These changes are not solely Serb-oriented (with whom the majority group — Croats — was at war with); a generally negative attitude toward other ethnic minority groups has been on the rise; 2. The results of the 1997 study have shown that the social distance is not a universal phenomenon and that there are two types of this distance: political and traditional/ cultural; 3. There are significant differences in the social distance toward the minorities among the voters of certain political parties; it is considerably smaller with the sympathisers of the “leftist” parties than with those of the “rightist” parties.

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