Anali Hrvatskog Politološkog Društva (Jan 2007)
The Youth and Europe: Fears and Hopes
Abstract
Based on a content analysis of directed associations on fears and hopes about Europe among the youth in Croatia, this paper analyses their attitude towards Croatia’s admission to the European Union. It also analyses the evaluative complexity and inner structure of this attitude. Research findings show that more than 20% of young people have no explicit attitude towards Croatia’s admission to the European Union. The explored attitude, among those who have it, is predominantly based on three hopes, i.e. expectations: economic progress, achievement of accountable governance and implementation of European values and standards in Croatia, but also on two fears: of economic colonisation and of political changes. Substantially, these hopes and fears comprise the utilitarian, value-related and political dimensions of transformation which are expected from the admission of a country to the European Union.
