Authors

Discussion

During the 1991-95 war in Croatia, soldiers returning from the front formed the first veteran associations affiliated with the military or governing right-wing Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). In 1996, after the HDZ government disregarded veterans’ demands in drafting the law regulating their welfare, a major association announced a protest, shocking the officials. Since Croatian President Franjo Tuđman defused the situation by promising state care for veterans, the protest against the government turned into a support rally for those officials who supported the protesters' cause. In 2014, another association protested poor healthcare for veterans and condemned officials’ speculations about PTSD cases among the resident Serb population. Since the centre-left government refused to sack the Veterans’ Minister, the veterans protested for over a year – taking a violent turn at moments. While some evidence portray these events as authentic expressions of dissatisfaction, other information points to covert operations designed to discredit the government. Additional sources suggest the protests were the outcome of a power struggle between the moderate market-centred and radical nationalist cliques within HDZ and government. By analysing the veterans' associations' documents, media reports and secondary sources, this paper will consider the driving forces behind these protests: do protesters act as independent political actors or are they the tool of politicians?