engleski

Centralization, modernization and nation building — administrative reforms in Croatia 1848-1918

Administrative reforms in Croatia followed two basic concepts - the traditional municipal model and the centralised model imported from Austria. The dynamism and variety of the reforms, as many as six reforms of the county system from 1850 to 1886 were undertaken, reflected the turbulent political environment and suggested that the experiments carried out in this field were not accompanied by a clear and elaborated strategic concept. Such dynamism indicates the search for an adequate organisational model in a changing constitutional and political environment. The reforms relied upon a constitutional framework, as well as upon technical aspects, but their primary determinant were the political intentions of the reformers themselves. Despite the various forms of the administrative reorganisations undertaken, and despite their different political motives and the different frameworks in which they took place, their common denominator was a tendency toward centralisation (with the obvious exception of the reform project of 1849 and the reform of 1861). This tendency toward centralisation indicates the growing role of the state and the political elites supporting it in the shaping of modern society in the 19th century. The political elites in power perceived decentralisation in an under-developed land as an obstruction of their intentions, no matter whether they were of nationalistic or pro- Hungarian orientations.

administrative reforms; nation-building

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