The Croatian state right ( hr, Hrvatsko državno pravo) is a legal concept in

Croatian law The law of Croatia is part of the legal system of Croatia. It belongs to the civil law legal system. It is grounded on the principles laid out in the Constitution of Croatia and safeguarded by the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia. C ...

that represents the entirety of Croatia's rules on the establishment and functioning of public authorities. It is also used to argue for Croatia's sovereignty, referring to the legal status of Croatia as an independent

polity A polity is an identifiable Politics, political entity – a group of people with a collective identity, who are organized by some form of Institutionalisation, institutionalized social relation, social relations, and have a capacity to mobilize ...

within the framework of various states throughout its history. Its application is pointed out as evidence of Croatia's continuous statehood since the

medieval Kingdom of Croatia In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire an ...

. The Croatian state right is listed in the preamble of the modern Constitution of Croatia as a source of the country's sovereignty. The concept was first introduced in 1830 by Josip Kušević in the context of Croatian

national revival National revival or national awakening is a period of ethnic self-consciousness that often precedes a political movement for national liberation but that can take place at a time when independence is politically unrealistic. In the history of Eur ...

. Kušević based the idea on development of town privileges, seeing it as a means of defense against magyarisation. The term was popularised by

Janko Drašković Janko Drašković ( Hungarian: ''Draskovich János''; 20 October 1770 – 14 January 1856) was a Croatian politician associated with the beginnings of the 19th-century national revival, the Illyrian movement. He studied law and philosophy befor ...

in his 1832 ''Dissertation'', and later developed by Ante Starčević and Eugen Kvaternik. Starčević and Kvaternik argued that all people living in Croatia are Croats and that other nations can only exist by

nation-building Nation-building is constructing or structuring a national identity using the power of the state. Nation-building aims at the unification of the people within the state so that it remains politically stable and viable in the long run. According to ...

in their own states. Implications of this definition resulted in conflict between Croatian and

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe * someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people * Serbian language * Serbian names See also

* * * Old Serbian (disambiguat ...

nationalism.

Modern definition

As a legal concept, ''Croatian state right'' refers to the body of written and customary rules on the establishment and functioning of public authorities in Croatia. It also refers to the legal status of Croatia as a

within the Kingdom of Hungary after the Pacta conventa, the

Habsburg Monarchy The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...

, the Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary. Application of the Croatian state right is considered evidence of unbroken statehood of Croatia since the

Origin of the term

The Croatian state right was proposed and promoted in the 19th century during the Croatian

as a means of resistance against magyarisation (assimilation to the Kingdom of Hungary). The term was first applied by Josip Kušević in 1830 as a reference to town privileges. He argued that the regulations constituting the town privileges represented a feudal legal constitution. In 1790, the Sabor (Croatia's parliament) decided that a joint government with the Kingdom of Hungary would better protect Croatia from the threat of

Germanisation Germanisation, or Germanization, is the spread of the German language, German people, people and German culture, culture. It was a central idea of German conservative thought in the 19th and the 20th centuries, when conservatism and ethnic nationa ...

and from the return of absolutist monarchs like the recently deceased Joseph II. Following that decision, a power struggle developed between the Hungarian and Croatian elites, groups which generally encompassed nobility and more affluent

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...

. Hungarian elites promoted competing claims for a more centralised Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen encompassing Hungary and Croatia. Meanwhile, Croatian elites argued against centralisation, viewing it as a threat to town privileges and municipal rights; they considered the these rights evidence of Croatia's political autonomy, making them critical for the existence of Croatia as a polity. In the 19th century, Croatian nationalism defined Croatia as a political nation which could be joined by anyone, not relying on ethnicity. Alongside

self-determination The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a ''jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It stat ...

, the Croatian state right was key to the formation of the Croatian nation. The Croatian state right was referenced by

in the 1832 ''Dissertation'', a manifesto of the Illyrian movement. The concept was elaborated by Ante Starčević, the founder of the Party of Rights. Starčević argued that states should form "citizens' states" in which all citizens are equal and the definition of a nation does not include ethnic or religious criteria. Starčević's ideas regarding the Croatian state right and implications on definition of the nation were further developed by Eugen Kvaternik. Starčević and Kvaternik described the state right as belonging to the Croat "political people", defined as medieval nobility and contemporary general public. Building on Starčević's idea that the state can create the nation, the two claimed that there is no other people in Croatia other than Croats because existence of other nations can only come about through their right to another, separate political territory. This definition of the Croatian state right created a conflict between Croatian nationalism and Serbian nationalism, as the latter advocated popular sovereignty which would erase borders of previously existing polities with the aim of uniting all Serbs in a single state, including the Serbs of Croatia.

Subsequent applications

In 1917, as Austria-Hungary was facing its dissolution, representatives of South Slavs living in Austria-Hungary introduced the May Declaration to the Imperial Council, unsuccessfully proposing a reform of the monarchy. The declaration cited the concept of Croatian state right as its basis. The Party of Rights lost popularity after the end of World WarI and the creation of Yugoslavia, but the doctrine of the Croatian state right was accepted by

Stjepan Radić Stjepan Radić (11 June 1871 – 8 August 1928) was a Croat politician and founder of the Croatian People's Peasant Party (HPSS), active in Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. He is credited with galvanizing Cro ...

Croatian People's Peasant Party The Croatian Peasant Party ( hr, Hrvatska seljačka stranka, HSS) is an agrarian political party in Croatia founded on 22 December 1904 by Antun and Stjepan Radić as Croatian Peoples' Peasant Party (HPSS). The Brothers Radić believed that th ...

, which became the most influential political party among Croats in the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the World War I, First World War to the beginning of the World War II, Second World War. The in ...

following the 1920 elections. During World War II, the State Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Croatia (ZAVNOH), established by the Communist Party of Croatia (a branch of the

Communist Party of Yugoslavia The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, mk, Сојуз на комунистите на Југославија, Sojuz na komunistite na Jugoslavija known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, sl, Komunistična partija Jugoslavije mk ...

), was founded as the supreme legislative body of Croatia under the control of the Yugoslav Partisans. In the immediate aftermath of World WarII, ZAVNOH renamed itself the People's Sabor of Croatia ( hr, Narodni sabor Hrvatske). The name change was designed to signify the historical continuity of the Croatian legislative body as a representation of Croatia's sovereignty. The modern Constitution of Croatia also references the Croatian state right in its

preamble A preamble is an introductory and expressionary statement in a document that explains the document's purpose and underlying philosophy. When applied to the opening paragraphs of a statute, it may recite historical facts pertinent to the subj ...

References

{{reflist Law of Croatia Sovereignty