Lijepa Naša Domovino, or Maybe Not?; A Comparative Analysis of Euroscepticism Among Croatian Young Adults in Croatia and in The Netherlands

Euroscepticism, a phenomenon that we can witness more and more nowadays. The younger generations are deemed to have a more positive stance towards the European Union than the older age cohorts. Nevertheless, earlier studies have found that youth in Eastern Europe tends to be more Eurosceptic than their peers in Western Europe. This thesis focuses on Croatian young adults in Croatia and the Netherlands as the question arises if young adults who left their home country in search for better living standards, think differently about European integration than their fellow Croatians in Croatia. Through a parallel mediator model, using self-obtained data, various mediators are being tested in relation to the differences in Euroscepticism among the two groups. Besides general explanations for Euroscepticism such as political trust, knowledge and social-economic position, a specific focus is being put on nationalism due to Croatia’s complex history. The findings indicate that overall, there is limited difference between living in Croatia or the Netherlands on Euroscepticism. However, it can be stated that Croatian young adults in Croatia are slightly more Eurosceptic than their peers in the Netherlands. I found that, as expected, especially nationalism can explain the effect of living in Croatia or the Netherlands on Euroscepticism more for the Croatian young adults in Croatia than in the Netherlands. Hence, the findings of this research contribute to broadening the theory on the phenomenon Euroscepticism by shedding a light on the importance of nationalism among Croatian young adults.