Information Society in Croatia, Landsc@pes of Knowledge for Development

In: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/9160

Abstract

Sabbatical Studies Report ; Croatia has overcome a series of historical and cultural happenings. A war and serious internal conflicts after the break of Yugoslavia have left the country with structural problems that will need a few years to solve. With astonishing landscapes and a large stretch of coastline, Croatia has opened itself to tourism. Presidential and parliamentary elections at the beginning of 2000 ushered in politicians who pledged commitment to Croatia's integration into the European mainstream. Croatia Constitution was changed to accommodate the shift of power away from the President to the Parliament. Croatia joined the World Trade Organization and opened the economy. European Union accession talks were held up because the country's most prominent war crimes suspect, Ante Gotovina, remained at large until 2005. When finally convicted by the UN War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague in April 2011, Croatia successfully completed its EU accession negotiations. It is due to become the EU's 28th member state in 2013. A dispute with Slovenia over the sea and land borders - dating back to the break-up of Yugoslavia - also threatened to delay Croatia's membership until June 2010. The country's EU accession treaty was finally signed in December 2011, after years of tortuous negotiations. A referendum was made on the following month. Croatia was badly affected by the global financial crisis from 2008 up to 2009 and its tourism-oriented economy has suffered tremendous effects and the country has mostly been in recession since 2009. Confronted like other countries in transition periods, with fast privatizations, inefficient legal and administrative system, high unemployment rates, Croatia has imposed itself has one of the leading countries in the Balkans. After the conflicts that broke Yugoslavia apart, Croatia established his monetary and fiscal system initiating the first steps into a market economy. But the rigid mechanism used to regulate the national Kuna introduced several problems and generated an overvalued currency. The situation worsened the trade deficit and threatened the economic stability. The success of tourism, foreign investment and a considerable growth domestic product (above some European countries) can guarantee to Croatia a place among the EU like a modern democracy and a truly free market economy. The European Council granted the status of "candidate country" to Croatia in 2004 and Croatia opened EU accession negotiations on October 2005 and concluded them on June 2011. From an external observer, that is to be considered a tremendous success. However weaknesses in competitiveness have turned Croatia in a relatively small competitor when it comes to global markets. But although good results have been achieved by a strategic country alignment, the business' location remains traditional - near big cities and large metropolitan areas, mainly Zagreb, Rijeka, Split and Dubrovnik. Like Portugal, Croatia seems to suffer from urban macrocephaly and rural exodus. Croatia remains a country with an historical problem concerning development asymmetries. That is also true when it comes to knowledge dissemination. But the Information and Communication Technologies sector (ICT) has to be considered crucial to leverage economic growth assuming at the same time an important role in particular aspects of the so called Information Society (IS). The ICT sector is also crucial for the decrease of territorial asymmetries. But the difference between numbers is larger when it comes to the big cities or metropolitan areas compared with its peripheries or rural regions.