Theories Of Central European Integration In Croatian Politics And Culture (1848.-1971.) Presented by: Dr. Kljaić Date: 23 May 2024 Major Theories Of Central European Integration In Case Of Modern Croatia - Austro-Slavism - Croatian-Hungarian Unionism - Idea of the Danube Confederation Croatian Vision Of Austro-Slavism - Austro-Slavism became the ideology of the Croatian nationalism in the Revolution of 1848 - National party (Narodnjaci) - Croatian Parliament (Sabor) in 1848 stated that it supported the creation of a federalized Monarchy in accordance with the Austro-Slavist plans - Ban Josip Jelačić declared the political autonomy and territorial integrity of the Triune Kingdom of Croatia, Dalmatia and Slavonia - To be separated from Hungary and to have closer relations with the Austrian lands in the new context Dragojlo Kušlan - Dragojlo Kušlan, a Croatian journalist, lawyer and politician (1817-1867) was one of the main Croatian theorists of Austro- Slavism. • Speech at the Slavic Congress in Prague in 1848 at which told the audience that federalism should be founded on the linguistic-ethnic foundations • Single parliament for the Monarchy and the common affairs of the army, foreign trade and finances • According to Kušlan's ideas, the Monarchy would thus convert to a constitutional monarchy, and Croatian Kingdom would enter a close alliance with Vojvodina and the Slovenian lands. Josip J. Strossmayer (1815.-1903.) - According to the bishop of Djakovo, the Austrian idea politically protected small Slavic nations from powerful neighbors, but not only that Austria also promoted interests of the Catholic Church in the Central and Southeaster Europe, given the special relations between the dynasty and the papacy. For Strossmayer, the religious interests of the Catholic Church and the political demands for the federalization of the Monarchy was very compatible. The prelate thought that it would be able to realize its own 'divine mission' in future times only if it was capable of reforming by itself and would give up the centralist and absolutist tendencies. Decentralization and federalization of the Austrian Empire have no alterative, apart from the fact that centralism is not a reflection of the Christian order, it also carried the hegemony of the Austrian Germans over other nations. Croatian-Hungarian Unionism - Croatian-Hungarian unionism was not based on language and ethnic element as was the case with Austroslavism but on the constitution and historical law. All the drama of the Croatian political scene consisted of disagreements over these two integrations based on different starting points of naturalism and historicism, 'nationality' and 'constitutionality'. Because of this dilemma, Croatian modern politics was in conflict between Slavophiles and Magyarophiles, between linguistic and constitutionalhistorical approaches regarding the Croatian national question. Milan Šufflay (1879.- 1931.) - Šufflay was the last significant messenger of the Magyarophile tradition of Croatian politics. No one before him defended this political tradition with such a sophisticated intellectual level as this nobleman by origin and distinguished historian. He was trying to find a symbiosis of the Croatian-Hungarian state so that the two would continue to live in a common state even if the Monarchy were to collapse. Šufflay's ideas about the Hungarian-Croatian federation were never realized after 1918, but regardless of that, his role in the formulation of Croatian nationalism of an anti-Yugoslav orientation in the interwar period remains indisputable. Idea Of The Danube Confederation - Aspirations towards broader Central European integration did not disappear even in the 20th century, although they were no longer at the center of the main discussions of Croatian politics. The main debate concerned the creation of an independent Croatian state on the one hand and the maintenance of a common Yugoslav state on the other one. It should be said that many advocates of an independent Croatian state were more or less open to integration with the Central European sphere, which could not be said for the ones of the Yugoslavism. Vinko Krišković: The Danube Confederation as an Anti-Communist Bulwark - Vinko Krišković (1861.-1952.) placed a burden of guilt on America for the disappearance of the Monarchy in 1918 so believed that it owed a moral and political debt to the nations of Central Europe. For that reason, the Americans was obliged to correct mistakes of their own politics and to keep the Central European nations out of the power of the Soviets. In the restoration of the Danube confederation, which Croatia would join in, Krišković was looking for a way out for Croatian national freedom and a powerful bulwark against Communism under the leadership of the USA. CONCLUSION - Ideas of Central European integration characterized Croatian political culture in the 19th and 20th centuries. In particular, it was relevant in the period when the Croatian lands were part of the Monarchy. - Croatian-Hungarian unionism and their constitutional relations with its great and long tradition was the true expression of Croatian Central European integration throughout almost all Croatian history. - Australianism was supposed to be the response of Croatian nationalism against Hungarian nationalism in 1848 - Interestingly, after the collapse of the Eastern Bloc and Yugoslavia in the 1990s, democratic Croatia did not join the Central European integration in the form of the Visegrad Group, despite the existence of positive historical tradition of this integration in the Croatian politics and culture towards this type of integration.