State-Building and the Ontological Security Seeking: Croatia in the Context of the Disintegration of the SFRY

The article examines the process of state-building through the prism of the theory of ontological security. The idea that actors seek a stable image of themselves in the world allows for the consideration of threats to community security in non-physical dimensions. The author attempts to conceptualize the notion of “routinization” – the repetition of certain actions aimed at bracketing out anxiety and strengthening the ontological security of the community. Drawing on the ideas of A. Giddens, J. Mitzen, B. Steele, and F. Ejdus, the author argues that routine, constructed both by the actors themselves and through inter-actor interaction, is a fundamental method of coping with critical situations. At the same time, it is precisely critical situations that create opportunities for changing existing routines. The case of Croatia in the context of the collapse of socialist Yugoslavia illustrates the idea of state-building as the pursuit of ontological security.The critical situation associated with the breakdown of the routines of “brotherhood and unity” was marked by the reactivation of ethnic tensions. It is thus most effective to analyze the development of this critical situation through the interaction of four actors: F. Tuđman, S. Milošević, Croats, and Serbs. F. Tuđman played a significant role in shaping the routines of “Franjonism” as a response to the critical situation. “Franjonism” was expressed through the opposition between Croats and Serbs, and the deconstruction of Yugoslavia’s past within Croatia. State-building in the spirit of “Franjonism,” however, not only increased the ontological security of Croats but also led to the emergence of a new critical situation between Croats and Serbs, the resolution of which escalated into a fullscale armed conflict.