Project title: Political identities in Croatia (Politički identiteti u Hrvatskoj), Acronym:
POLIDEH (FPZG-IP-04)
Thematical area of the project: Croatian politics, comparative politics
Duration of the project: 48 months (start date: 10/2025 – end date: 09/2029)
Total cost: 80.000,00 EUR (100 % EU contribution NextGenerationEU)

Principle investigator (PI): Full professor Goran Čular

Research team members:
Associate professor Kosta Bovan (FPZG)
Associate professor Stevo Đurašković (FPZG)
Full professor Andrija Henjak (FPZG)
Vatroslav Jelovica (FPZG)
Associate professor Višeslav Raos (FPZG)
Associate professor Daniela Širinić (FPZG)
Bartul Vuksan-Ćusa, PhD candidate (FPZG)

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
Based on the current knowledge about the functioning of party competition and the fundamental
determinants of voting behavior in Croatia, which is the result of analyses within the framework
of Croatian National Election Studies (CroNES), the central theme of this project is the concept
of political identities. Political identities are more stable collective patterns of symbolic,
ideological and political perceptions, attitudes and behavior of voters formed in Croatia through
a special form of party mobilization of citizens during the crucial period of democratic transition
in the 1990s. Political identities have proven to be central concepts for the analysis of voting
behavior, and are established from the relationships of four other concepts: a) dominant cleavage
structures; b) party identification; c) left-right orientation and d) socio-economic structures and
attitudes.
A special feature of political identities is that they are relatively stable over a long period of time,
and for individuals they function as political landmarks, sources of political (de)mobilization,
rationalizers of behavior and bearers of a sense of belonging to a particular political group or

milieu. The relationship between political identity and specific voter behavior, although to a
certain extent empirically determinable and stable over time, is dynamic and dependent on
changes in the social and political environment (especially crises), changes in the party offer
(party system) and changes in voters' perceptions of their socio-economic position or interests.
The main goals of the project are to more specifically define and empirically determine the
characteristics of individual fundamental political identities in Croatia as they were originally
established, and to determine to what extent changes have occurred in the existing structure of
political identities in the last ten years (since the critical elections of 2015) under the influence of
the three types of changes mentioned. The research is based on a longitudinal database of survey
data from 1990-2028, as well as on an online survey panel research.
Contact: Full professor Goran Čular (goran.cular@fpzg.hr)