ABSTRACT This study will examine to what extent possible democratic backsliding in Croatia is occurring. Comparisons are drawn between the widely covered democratic backsliding in Hungary and the...Show moreABSTRACT This study will examine to what extent possible democratic backsliding in Croatia is occurring. Comparisons are drawn between the widely covered democratic backsliding in Hungary and the possible democratic backsliding in Croatia. To operationalize democracy and its backlash a theory first coined by Levitsky and Way will be used, Competitive Authoritarianism. The study will assess how Croatia scores on the different indicators that CA is composed of. One of the key findings of this study is that in both countries an electoral system exists with unbalanced constituencies, which can substantially influence election results. Another similarity that can be drawn on the basis of this study is of the politicized media authorities. The institutions that should be ensuring independence of the media are heavily politicized themselves, thus not independent. As far as lawsuits against journalists on the basis of libel and defamation the situation in both countries is problematic and raising concerns. Lawsuits against journalists are not often initiated by politicians and public figures, this leads to self-censorship of the media. Where claims about disadvantaging critical media financially can be made for the case of Hungary, for Croatia no strong evidence exist this is occurring. The main finding of the study is that the trends emerging within Hungary in regard to democratic backsliding only partially manifest themselves in Croatian society since EU accession. Due to the emerging characteristics of a CA regime the status of democracy in Croatia must be further examined.Show less