Global Crisis and National Responses Case of Croatia

In terms of its effects so far the global economic crisis is stronger and deeper than the economic disturbances at the time of the Great Depression. Additionally, it takes place under the conditions of a much higher level of connection and complexity of interrelations compared to the events in the period from 1929 to 1933. It started as a segmented phenomenon in two aspects: in one country – the USA and in one sector – financial industry. However, in less than a year it became global in terms of territorial coverage and universal in terms of its effects, which means that it entered the area of real economy. It has had a significant impact on the decrease of growth and employment rate and the decrease of production and exports. However, even though this open crisis has become an evidently global phenomenon, it is also clear that, with all the discussions on the future global configuration of control and early detection of signals of economic disturbances, today and now every state is seeking, identifing and taking specific measures in the sphere of its national economic policy. This task lies ahead of the Republic of Croatia under the conditions that include an additional challenge: structural imbalances which, for various social and economic reasons, have been transferred from one term to the next term of office of the next legislative and executive branch of power, ever since mid-90s of the last century.