This article gives an overview of liberalism in Croatia. Liberals became active since 1860 in Dalmatia and since 1904 in the rest of Croatia. It never became a major political party. It is limited to liberalparties with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in parliament. The sign ⇒ denotes another party in that scheme. For inclusion in this scheme it isn't necessary so that parties labeled themselves as a liberal party.
History
After the restoration of democracy in 1989 liberalism became very divided. Before 2020, one could have distinguished five parties: the right of center Croatian Social Liberal Party (Hrvatska socijalno-liberalna stranka, member of LI, ALDE), two center liberal parties: Croatian People's Party-Liberal Democrats (Hrvatska narodna stranka - liberalni demokrati, observer in LI, member of ALDE) and People's Party - Reformists (Narodna stranka – reformisti, member of EDP), while left of center is Civic Liberal Alliance (Građansko-liberalni savez - GLAS, member of ALDE). Reformists and GLAS are formed from dissidents of the Croatian People's Party-Liberal Democrats. Istrian Democratic Assembly (Istarski demokratski sabor - Dieta Democratica Istriana, member of ALDE) is considered as Istrianregionalist, but also as a liberal party. In the 2020 Croatian parliamentary election two additional liberal parties emerged as factors on the national scene: Centre and Focus, both members of ALDE.
Main media exponents of Croatian liberalism or liberal ideas include or included newspapers Novi list and Glas Istre, culture magazine Zarez and the defunct weekly Feral Tribune.
1860–1945
National Party (People's Party)
1860: National liberals formed in Dalmatia the National party known also as the People's Party (Narodna stranka). The party developed into a conservative party around 1889.
From Progressive Party to Progressive Democratic Party
1904: Progressive liberals formed in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia the Progressive Party (Napredna stranka)
1906: The NS merged with the ⇒ Democratic Party into the Croatian People's Progressive Party (Hrvatska pučka napredna stranka)
1910: The party merged with the Croatian Party of Rights (Hrvatska stranka prava) into the Croatian Independent Party (Hrvatska samostalna stranka)
1918: The party is reorganised into the Progressive Democratic Party (Napredna demokratska stranka)
1919: The party became part of the conservative Croatian Community (Hrvatska zajednica)
Democratic Party (Dalmatia)
1906: Dalmatian liberals formed the Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka)
1908: The DS merged into the ⇒ Croatian People's Progressive Party
From Democratic Community to Democratic Party (Yugoslavia)
1919: The party is renamed into the Democratic Community (Demokratska zajednica)
1920: The party is renamed into the Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka)
1924: A faction formed the ⇒ Independent Democratic Party
1945: The party is dissolved
Independent Democratic Party
1924: The former Serbian Independent Party seceded from the ⇒ Democratic Party and constituted the Independent Democratic Party (Samostalna demokratska stranka), led by Svetozar Pribićević, mainly active in the Serbian population of Croatia
1945: The party is dissolved
1989–present
Croatian Social Liberal Union / Croatian Social Liberal Party
1998: A left-wing faction formed the ⇒ Liberal Party
2002: A faction secedes to form the ⇒ Party of Liberal Democrats
Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats
1990: Dissident communists formed the liberal Croatian People's Party (Hrvatska narodna stranka)
2005: The ⇒ Party of Liberal Democrats merges into the party, which is renamed into Croatian People's Party-Liberal Democrats (Hrvatska narodna stranka - liberalni demokrati)
2014: A faction secedes to form the ⇒ People's Party - Reformists
2017: A left-wing faction formed the ⇒ Civic Liberal Alliance
Liberal Party
1998: A left-wing faction of the ⇒ Croatian Social Liberal Party formed the Liberal Party (Liberalna stranka)
2014: A faction led by former party leader Radimir Čačić left the ⇒Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats to form People's Party - Reformists (Narodna stranka - reformisti).