CAREFULLY CONTROLLED SCIENCE
AIM ZAGREB, February 11, 1999
When three months ago Ivica Kostovic was appointed chief of the President's cabinet, Ministry of Science and Technology was lost its head figure. Although rumours have started spreading recently that the new minister might be appointed, his name remained a mystery. Judging by appearances, it will not be so easy for Tudjman to find an adequate replacement for Kostovic. The absence of a leading man in this Ministry, as well as the position of the Croatian Government that the Ministry is functioning well even without the minister, is proof enough of how much the authorities care for science and scientific progress. Vilim Ribic, President of the Scientific Trade Unions thinks that "such an attitude shows not that a minister in the Ministry of Science and Technology is superfluous, but rather that science is superfluous for this state. The appointment of a new minister should not represent a problem since there are people in that Ministry who have demonstrated their ability to efficiently discharge the duty of the Minister for Science through their work. However, these individuals are not suitable for the leading position in the Ministry as they are not inclined to petty political games, while work results are not a criterion according to which ministers are appointed in Croatia".
How is the Ministry functioning without a minister is best illustrated by Ivica Mandic's recent public speech about the application of the Law on Higher Education. He placed the emphasis on the reappraisal of professor titles and the revaluation of the status of certain institutions of higher learning. Allegedly, the application of the mentioned Law would bring into question the status of some six hundred University professors, while certain faculties would be degraded to the level of University departments. Scientists and professors are granted higher titles or reappointed to the same degree on the basis of their qualifications and the number of published works. If they do not meet that requirement, a scientific institution or an institution of higher education has the right to cancel their work contract.
According to many scientists insistence on the application of stricter criteria with the view to achieving higher scientific and educational level of University and scientific personnel represents a positive step towards separating profession from science and distinguishing scientists from lecturers. Therefore, since this Law has been in force for already six years Mandic's announcement is neither new nor alarming. But, the fact that the mentioned Law has been valid six years and that only now when the Ministry for Science and Technology has lost its Minister its application is being mentioned, cannot but raise suspicions as to the sincerity of this endeavour. If we bear in mind the fact that the Law - which proudly insists on strict criteria which would bring the Croatian science closer to that of West European countries - sets a five-year period for the fulfillment of the set requirements, that suspicion is even greater.
Freethinking scientists mention years-long adjustment of the criteria to the needs of a specific number of nationalistically oriented intellectuals and political converts, who were never very good at science but whose presence in this prestigious milieu was necessary. The fact that the Faculty of Croatian Studies was established during that adjustment period also shows how convincing was the Law, when immediately after its adoption its implementation was postponed for five years. There is, consequently, every reason to suspect that such a law, which questions the status of both scientists and scientific institutions, can turn into politically motivated elimination of unsuitable scientists and institutions, i.e. promotion of those suitable. In the opinion of the vast majority of University public, the establishment of the Faculty for Croatian Studies was unnecessary, while motives for the establishment of this quasi-scientific institutions were purely political.
The programme of the mentioned studies is largely a plagiarization of the study programme of sociology, philosophy and psychology of the Faculty of Philosophy and of journalistic studies at the Faculty of Political Sciences. Since the mentioned studies enjoy a long-standing credibility at these faculties and that the Croatian faculties lack highly-qualified teaching personnel, claims about the competitiveness between the newly established Faculty and the mentioned faculties do not hold water.
It should be also emphasized that certain classes at the Faculty of Croatian Studies are held by professors from the Faculties of Philosophy and Political Sciences, and it wouldn't be amiss to mention that the initiative for the establishment of journalistic studies at the Faculty of Croatian Studies came from Professor Zvonko Lerotic, who is also a professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences. In other words, some professors have decided to be their own competition. Professor Lerotic did not hesitate to confess the motives of his own initiative and sent a message to his critics: "You had your party school, and now it is our turn to have one". It seems that the University professors are divided into nation-builders, gathered around the Faculty for Croatian Studies, and alleged "Yugo sentimentalists" from the Faculty of Philosophy and Faculty of Political Sciences. In other words, apart from professional criteria, Zagreb University abides by political ones which could decisively tip the scales in the implementation of the Law.
A good illustration of how much such an outcome is feared is the refusal of one professor from the Faculty of Philosophy to openly comment on the possible implementation of this Law under the pretext that he did not want to put his Department in danger. He feared that such a law could not be implemented without political connotations. When the establishment of the Faculty of Croatian Psychology - experts say that its very title is nonsensical - was explained with the intention of introducing competition to the psychological studies at the Faculty of Philosophy, then it didn't take much to realize what kind of competition was in question. Competition between those politically loyal and the others is also present when decisions are being made on the publishing of professional and scientific works in magazines which is taken into account in the appraisal of academic titles or in proclaiming magazines as scientifically competent.
Ministry of Science and Technology has a decisive role in the assessment of the mentioned competence, as well as in granting financial support to such magazines. Whether the Ministry has an ear for science and scientists in Croatia is best illustrated by the fact that despite the deficit of scientific magazines in Croatia the confirmation of one's scientific status still depends on the number of works published in such magazines.
The Institute of History also has problems with publications as the Ministry of Science and Technology has stopped financing a large number of publications. Scientists lack space where to publish their papers as they only have "Magazine for Contemporary History", "Historical Supplement" and "Historical Compendium" at their disposal. The first two are under the supervision of Mirko Valentic and Jure Kriste, who are inclined to categorize historians into "revisionists" - among which they belong as their starting point is the Croatian nation-building idea - and "Yugoslav sentimentalists" who do not favour romantic idealization of the Croatian history. Wishing to prevent any contribution of "Yugoslav sentimentalists" to the Croatian history, two "revisionists" have taken charge of the editing of these magazines in line with Tudjman's understanding of the Croatian past. So, if a scientist wants to confirm his status or to advance he has to accept political criticism.
The majority of scientists in this country think that Mandic's announcements are actually attempts at creating an impression about intensive activities in the Ministry of Science and Technology, as every serious change, i.e. the raising of the level of scientific and professional work, is out of the question as long as actual problems facing science in Croatia remain unindentified. "The Croatian science is in urgent need of profound reorganization. In the first place, the number of scientists should be revised as there are approximately eight thousand of them, i.e. almost 2 pro mille of the total population. After that, the amount of resources Croatia is allocating for the development of science should also be changed as it is, most probably, lowest in Europe. Also, the method of decision-making in the field of science, as well as the method of its financing should also be altered, so that we could provide conditions necessary for the normal functioning of the scientific potentials. And in this country they do not operate under normal conditions, if nothing else then for the fact that it is impossible to survive on a scientist's salary", says Gvozden Flego, Professor at Zagreb Faculty of Philosophy. He fears that the measure announced by Ivica Mandic will not contribute to the normalization of science in Croatia and that a linear application of mechanical and many other inappropriate criteria will simply wipe clean some of its branches. In Flego's opinion this normalization would be much easier to achieve if front men of the Science Ministry would adjust the working conditions, personal incomes and pensions of scientists with those of high state officials and parliamentary deputies.
That this whole story about carefully controlled science in Croatia is not just a journalistic paranoia is testified by the fact that there exists a category of intellectual "stoics". Namely, those are intellectuals who have decided to silently endure the state diktat in science. They have adjusted to the situation as they do not want to antagonize the power-holders, and their only aim is to retire without raising dust. It is hard to say how much these scientific-teaching cadres are willing to tolerate the "protective" embrace of the state without protesting. But, on the other hand, events in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia indicate how far the state can go. The events there tellingly show what happens when the state decides to "liberate the University" under a slogan: "Our aim is great. There can never be great aims without great sacrifices. Great aims represent an elevation for those who aspire after them. An elevated person can develop further, and a non-elevated can only fall down." Translated to everyday language, the achievement of a "great aim" in autocratic regimes implies ideological "cleansing" of disobedient professors who, naturally, are not "elevated".
IVANA ERCEG