INTERNATIONAL POLICY ANALYSIS Right-Wing Extremism in Croatia VEDRAN OBU Æ INA September 2012 n The extreme right has little direct political influence in Croatia because Croatia’s mainstream conservative party HDZ has effectively taken the wind out of the sails of parties further to the right by adopting their discourse to some extent. This was very obvious in the 1990s but is still an issue nowadays. n Constituent elements of the Croatian extreme right are an emphasis on the Ustasha movement during the Second World War, the creation of a strong state with an authoritarian character, territorial expansion of Croatia to its ethnic borders, espe ­cially vis­à -vis the Serbs, and a messianic mission of the Croatian nation as a bulwark of catholic Christianity. n Radicalization of the public sphere is most readily visible among the younger genera ­tion, particularly in the context of football hooliganism.