Policy-Making at the European Periphery

Zdravko Petak is Professor of Political Science at the University of Zagreb, Croatia. His research interests are public policy analysis, comparative public policy, European public policy, local politics and political finance. He was president of the Croatian Political Science Association (1999-2002) and editor-in-chief of The Annals of Croatian Political Science Review (2004-2013).  Kristijan Kotarski is Assistant Professor at Faculty of Political Science, University Zagreb, Croatia. His research interests include international political economy, economic policy and the EU. He is head of the Centre for European Studies at Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb and also serves professionally as a Director for the University of Zagreb specialist degree “Adaptation to the EU: Project Management, EU funds and EU programs”.

• Chapter 1: Croatia’s post-communist transition experience: the paradox of initial advantage turning into a middle-income trap - Zdravko Petak and Kristijan Kotarski.- Chapter 2: Policy-making context and challenges of governance in Croatia - Zdravko Petak.- Chapter 3: The Europeization of Croatian Political System - Hrvoje Špehar and Ivan Pepić.- Chapter 4: Political attention of Croatian governments  1990-2015 - Daniela Širinić.- Chapter 5: Interest groups in the policy making process in Croatia - Igor Vidačak and Kristijan Kotarski.- Chapter 6: Political economy of corruption, clientelism and vote-buying in Croatian local government - Vuk Vuković.- Chapter 7: Long-term trends in Croatian GDP growth - Anita Čeh Časni, Petra Palić and Maruška Vizek.- Chapter 8: Monetary policy in a highly euroized economy - Kristijan Kotarski and Marina Tkalec.- Chapter 9: Fiscal policy and European Semester in Croatia: why should we focus on public debt? - Hrvoje Šimović and Milan Deskar-Škrbić.- Chapter 10: Banking regulation in Croatia: qualitative and quantitative assessment - Milan Deskar Škrbić, Kristijan Kotarski and Luka Brkić.- Chapter 11: Competitiveness of Croatian economy: the comparison of private and public sector enterprises - Velimir Šonje.- Chapter 12: Croatian pension system and challenges of pension policy - Predrag Bejaković.- Chapter 13: Health policy in Croatia: a case of free falling - Dagmar Radin.- Chapter 14: Education policy in Croatia - Tihomir Žiljak and Nikola Baketa.- Chapter 15: Cohesion policy in Croatia: what have we accomplished so far? - Sanja Maleković, Jakša Puljiz and Ivana Keser.- Chapter 16: Features of Croatian public policies - Ana Petek.- Chapter 17: Quo vadis Croatia? The interplay of institutions, interests and ideas - Zdravko Petak and Kristijan Kotarski.