Public attitudes towards immigrants: A curious case of Croatia

Abstract The Croatian population has been subjected to violent ethnic conflicts during the war in the 1990s and has more recently experienced large‐scale irregular and refugee migrations, as well as a notable increase in regular labour migration. Using data from the most recent wave of the European Social Survey, we have conducted an analysis of Croatian attitudes towards immigrants. Our study found that, despite Croatia's history of ethnic conflict and ongoing changes in its migration system, the Croatian population still exhibits relatively low levels of negative attitudes towards immigrants compared to other Eastern European countries. With regards to individual determinants of attitudes, one of the biggest surprizes is that political party preferences play a minor role in explaining attitudes towards immigrants. We discuss our findings and conclude that there is an urgent need for better theoretical and empirical framework for understanding illiberal tendencies in Eastern European societies, particularly within the current context of rapidly worsening security situation in Europe.