Arts & International Affairs: Volume 2, Issue 1 | Page 94

Introduction
The recent cultural transitions in post-socialist Southeast European
countries have opened a number of issues related to cultural change
and in particular to cultural stratification inspired by or directly linked
to cultural globalization processes. As diversified cultural practices have
occurred during the last about twenty-odd years, the previously more or
less standardized cultural policies (reflecting the concept of welfare state
and profuse investment in development of cultural institutions) have been
changed to stress more liberal tendencies in overall social development
of all post-socialist countries. The Southeast European cultural space has
become ever more diversified and ever more tolerant of different local
cultural traditions as well as of global influences affecting them. At the same
time, national cultural identification and building up of cultural identity
has become a strongly expressed cultural issue on national and local levels.
The reference point to such developments is cultural change prompted by
globalism and often sustained by cultural strategies and policies.
The overall approach to the analysis of global impacts on local cultures
presumes that the systemic transition has initiated a restructuring and
reorganization of cultural activities and cultural values, as well as the (re-)
establishment of more or less consistent cultural policies open to global
(i.e., European) influences. This has supported changes of local cultures and
encouraged local responses to global impacts.
In this respect, a general view of globalization and globalism is here presented
to mark the inception of new cultural spaces and the raising awareness of
stratification processes affecting Southeast European cultures. A general
overview of the role and performance of local cultural policies (seen through
their impact on the ongoing cultural restructuration) may help elucidate the
national and local efforts invested to follow global trends and influences.
The case of Croatia illustrates well such processes. It shows that the notion
of national culture is getting closer to the concept of a specific cultural
space (e.g., European or regional Southeast European) through the
diversification and decentralization of cultural policies, and that the issue
of national identification has evolved to promote a variety of different aims
and practices. In this respect, the Croatian case is useful for the study of
cultural change in Southeast Europe. It is, however, limited by its specificity
and concentration on the internalized cultural values and practices.
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