Maintaining Inter-Organizational Relationships 2
In early 2000, the former communist nation, Croatia, experienced its first fair and
successful democratic election. With the election of President President Stjepan (Stipe) Mesic,
Croatia became a fledgling democracy (Freedom Forum, 2002). Croatia’s fledgling
transformation may be attributed to a variety of internal characteristics such as its economic
potential or its highly educated homogenous population. Additionally, Croatia has benefited
from a pro-democratic grass roots movement encompassing independent media, non-
governmental organizations (NGOs), and international non-governmental organizations
(INGOs). Yet these NGOs and independent media face challenges beyond their shared interest in
seeing the fruition of democracy. In order to accomplish their short- and long-term goals, they
rely on funding and support from many of the same grantors. USAID, Soros, and the British
Know-How Fund are the major international NGOs (INGOs) that funnel moneys to the local,
grass roots organizations to which the successful transformation to democracy in Croatia was
attributed. These organizations joined together in the 2000 elections because of their common
purpose to see a fair and free election. Yet, they also vied for support moneys from the same
funding agencies and sought participation and emotional support from citizens in their local
communities.
The elections of 2000 were a major political movement that followed a devastating civil
war among the Croats, Bosnians, and Serbs. The spirit of the times—marked by an atmosphere
of political tensions and civil unrest—was ripe for cooperation among independent media,
INGOs, and NGOs. Since then, while these organizations continue to share a goal of maintaining
democracy, motivation to cooperate is not as imperative as during the major political movement
of 2000. Two years later, these organizations have come to rely on the existence of democracy
and thus have returned to a focus on their more special interest goals, like women’s issues,
Convention