This article gives an overview of liberalism in Croatia. Liberals became active since 1860 in Dalmatia and since 1904 in the rest of Croatia. It never became a major political party. It is limited to liberal parties with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in parliament. The sign ⇒ denotes another party in that scheme. For inclusion in this scheme it isn't necessary so that parties labeled themselves as a liberal party.

History

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After the restoration of democracy in 1989 liberalism became very divided. Before 2020, one could have distinguished five parties: the right of center Croatian Social Liberal Party (Hrvatska socijalno-liberalna stranka, member of LI, ALDE), two center liberal parties: Croatian People's Party-Liberal Democrats (Hrvatska narodna stranka - liberalni demokrati, observer in LI, member of ALDE) and People's Party - Reformists (Narodna stranka – reformisti, member of EDP), while left of center is Civic Liberal Alliance (Građansko-liberalni savez - GLAS, member of ALDE). Reformists and GLAS are formed from dissidents of the Croatian People's Party-Liberal Democrats. Istrian Democratic Assembly (Istarski demokratski sabor - Dieta Democratica Istriana, member of ALDE) is considered as Istrian regionalist, but also as a liberal party. In the 2020 Croatian parliamentary election two additional liberal parties emerged as factors on the national scene: Centre and Focus, both members of ALDE.

Main media exponents of Croatian liberalism or liberal ideas include or included newspapers Novi list and Glas Istre, culture magazine Zarez and the defunct weekly Feral Tribune.

1860–1945

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National Party (People's Party)
From Progressive Party to Progressive Democratic Party
Democratic Party (Dalmatia)
  • 1906: Dalmatian liberals formed the Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka)
  • 1908: The DS merged into the ⇒ Croatian People's Progressive Party
From Democratic Community to Democratic Party (Yugoslavia)
Independent Democratic Party

1989–present

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Croatian Social Liberal Union / Croatian Social Liberal Party
  • 1989: Liberals formed the Croatian Social Liberal Union (Hrvatski socijalno-liberalni savez), renamed in 1990 into the Croatian Social Liberal Party (Hrvatska socijalno-liberalna stranka)
  • 1998: A left-wing faction formed the ⇒ Liberal Party
  • 2002: A faction secedes to form the ⇒ Party of Liberal Democrats
Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats
  • 1990: Dissident communists formed the liberal Croatian People's Party (Hrvatska narodna stranka)
  • 2005: The ⇒ Party of Liberal Democrats merges into the party, which is renamed into Croatian People's Party-Liberal Democrats (Hrvatska narodna stranka - liberalni demokrati)
  • 2014: A faction secedes to form the ⇒ People's Party - Reformists
  • 2017: A left-wing faction formed the ⇒ Civic Liberal Alliance
Liberal Party
Party of Liberal Democrats
People's Party - Reformists
Civic Liberal Alliance
Pametno / Centre

Liberal leaders

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Liberal thinkers

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Postoji li liberalna Hrvatska?". Zarez (in Croatian) (149). 25 February 2005. Retrieved 11 February 2014.

Sources

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