The movement and development of the population in Croatia in the period after the Second World War took place under general and specific conditions and circumstances that were mostly attributed to normal and spatially balanced demographic development. After that, it is necessary to start the demographic process in the Homeland War, in the early 1990s, Croatia found itself in a deep demographic crisis, with complex and numerous demographic, social and economic results. This scientific project starts from the fundamental fact that spatial population polarization is one of the most significant characteristics of contemporary demographic changes (demographic transformation) in Croatia. Indicators of demographic transformation (population density and distribution, overall population movement, demographic structure) point to the existence of increasingly pronounced demographic and socio-economic regionalization, with several prominent poles of development, depending on the spatial-functional level of observation, especially urban-rural polarization. Uneven spatial and demographic development is gradually assuming the role of the most important destabilizing factor in the sustainable regional development of the Croatian state. The main purpose of this research is to determine the reached level of contemporary demographic trends and changes in Croatia with regard to their settlement aspect. However, it is possible to use the structure of demographic and non-demographic indicators to determine the frequency of analysis and analyze the polarization of demographers before the first time (urban/rural). However, this is the result of the construction of urban and rural areas, at a time when the region is not yet in the function of the countrys development. The first method that is used is the use of the demographic and demogeographic (socio-geographic) determination method, which takes the form of a dynamic structure to determine the stability of the system. To begin with, with this demographic model, we can learn more about sociogeographic areas (city/urban, rural/rural, "mixed").

The purpose of the research within the project is to investigate the nature of contemporary global capitalism primarily as a cultural system, and its impact on the socio-cultural transformation of Croatian society and culture. Changes in this dimension are primarily manifested in the transformation of social values, which implies a change in the motives of the majority of members of society. The main hypothesis is that the fundamental factors influencing the socio-cultural transformation of Croatian society are the processes of marketization and commodification. The process of marketization requires that the entire social and cultural life, values, norms, and social relations and activities be revalued in accordance with market criteria according to which only that which can bring economic profit is valuable. Closely related to the process of marketization is the process of commodification, in which all areas of social and cultural life become commodities. The goals of the research are twofold: theoretical-conceptual and empirical-analytical. Within the framework of the first objective, the change of the theoretical discourse from the Weberian understanding of capitalism to neoliberal consumer capitalism will be investigated, the ideology of contemporary capitalism will be operationalized through the culture of consumerism, the commercialization of socio-cultural values, commodification and tolerance, the analysis of meanings and symbols. Also, an alternative concept of the culture of sustainability will be promoted against the culture of consumerism. Within the second objective, the role of socialization and enculturation factors for the market will be investigated through: marketization of the educational system and its consequences, commodification and marketization of culture, socio-professional structure, family relations and the health system, and the commodification of medicine with the simultaneous essentialization of physicality and all forms of illness. and suffering in the direction of marketization. The obtained research results should determine the adequacy of the current development strategies for encouraging the socio-cultural development of Croatia in the context of global trends, and affirm the culture of sustainability and those forms of sustainable development that are adapted to the culture, traditions, identities and needs of local societies and cultures.

After the first phase of the socio-economic transition in Croatia, which included the restitution of the established institutions of capitalist society (market economy, democratization, privatization), there is a need for faster inclusion in global economic processes, primarily in the economy of the European Union. Achieving competitiveness on the European and global market implies economic growth based on knowledge, education and innovation, that is, it implies a transition to a knowledge economy. The driver of the knowledge economy is the capitalization of knowledge, which is achieved through innovation and thus integrates scientific research, its technological application and commercial exploitation. The ability of a society to spread, use and create knowledge for the purpose of economic growth depends on the system of organizing and managing the institutional environment and the necessary resources. Such a system is known as the national innovation system, and the management policy as the innovation policy. In the light of the endogenization of technological change and the "new innovation paradigm", the innovation system and economic growth is a complex social phenomenon whose effectiveness depends on the action of the "invisible hand" of the institutional environment, which is created in co-evolution with factors of a social and political nature. This equates the importance of "social" and "political" changes with the importance of "technological change" itself and the material assumptions of production. The basic starting point of this research is that knowledge about the national innovation system of Croatia (HIS) is in its infancy, and little is known about its functioning, the quality of components and obstacles to development. In particular, the aspect of the institutional environment and socio-cultural assumptions of the use of knowledge in the function of economic growth have been neglected. Thus, the professional and scientific public is left without important knowledge about how to initiate economic growth based on knowledge. The goal of this project is, on the one hand, to improve knowledge about the "best practices" of innovation systems and policies in foreign countries, especially the EU, and on the other hand, to investigate and evaluate the effectiveness of HIS for the purpose of faster transformation of Croatia into a knowledge society. The project is interdisciplinary and interregional, and includes experts from the fields of sociology and economics, i.e. from the universities of Rijeka, Zagreb and Osijek, as well as foreign experts.

Social and political changes in Croatia at the beginning of the nineties, and especially after the end of the war, exposed many social problems. Social sciences have been slow to adapt to new opportunities and demands, resulting in insufficiently researched social phenomena. Within the framework of social sciences at the European level, the priority areas of research are various aspects of identity, migration processes and related social cohesion. In such a context, risky and deviant behaviors that belong to the psychosocial aspects of identity are factors that slow down social cohesion and integration processes. Contemporary research in the area of risky and deviant behaviors shows that their causes and correlates have not been sufficiently investigated. To date, not a single model of etiology and development has been established that fully explains all the causes, occurrence, spread and implications of risky and deviant behaviors. Theories and empirical research agree that scientific insight into the incidence of risky and deviant behavior and their causes in the individual, family and environment is indispensable for shaping national and global strategies for their prevention. Therefore, the main goals of the project are to systematically investigate the occurrence of risky and deviant behaviors, as well as associated risk and protective factors, by continuously monitoring the participants from childhood. The research will be conducted on samples of participants from the general (pupils, students and adults) and at-risk populations (criminals, drug addicts). The project will enable the discovery of the occurrence of risky and deviant behaviors in Croatia, their psychosocial causes and consequences, their perception in the public and protective factors that can act preventively, especially in children and young people. Basing the hypothesis on previous research and social and political changes, it is expected to reveal the continuity of the development of most risky and deviant behaviors and the similarity of trends with European countries, although some peculiarities are expected at the national level compared to the global level. Since standardized instruments will be used in the research, the obtained results will be verifiable and comparable with international and domestic research. The greatest contribution of this project is expected in the areas of creating new or improving existing national strategies and preventive programs, as well as a significant scientific and methodological contribution to this area of research.

The planned project starts from the premise that second home use, i.e. occasional use of dwellings for vacation and recreation, is a strong factor in socio-spatial transformation. There is a constant growth of this trend in Croatia, whereby certain areas, or to be more precise, the coastal area is more exposed to second homes expansion. This increase in pressure of second homes and the tendency of this phenomenon to change and take new forms, especially under the influence of the expected growth of international second homes and disappearance of the hierarchy in the use of dwellings, have directed the planned project towards one question: are second homes only an obstacle, or could they be a source of opportunities, i.e. an additional impulse to the social sustainability of local communities in Croatia. The main objectives of the project are: 1) Identifying settlements in Croatia with an increased number of second homes; 2) Determining types of settlements in Croatia, and getting an insight into the connection of second homes to relevant sociodemographic and socioeconomic features of the settlers; and 3) Analysing how second homes affect the daily life of the local community, social structures and processes in it. These objectives direct the research towards combining secondary analysis of the census data and the analysis of the empirical data gathered through case studies. This will enable a deep insight into the way second homes affect the local social reality. Project team members: Geran-Marko Miletić, Anka Mišetić, Roko Mišetić, Krešimir Peračković, Saša Poljanec-Borić, Tomislav Smerić, Nenad Pokos, Sara Ursic, Mario Bara, Marica Marinović Golubić, Raseljka Krnić, Srdjana Urlić, Stanko Mirošević, Duje Radovniković , Mirjana Urlić, Katarina Mirošević and Boris Bučević