Lecture on Social Cohesion in the Context of Croatian War Veterans of the 1990s
On December 2, 2025, the IESA SAS hosted a lecture by Dr. Igor Mikloušić as part of its professional seminar series. Dr. Mikloušić, currently on a short-term research stay with us, is a psychologist working at the Ivo Pilar Institute of Social Sciences in Zagreb, Croatia. His research focuses on personality psychology, morality, and social cohesion, particularly among veteran populations, and on how misinformation and conspiracy narratives influence trust and cohesion.
In his lecture titled “Threat, Identity, and the Invisible Bonds of Cohesion – The Case of Croatian Homeland War Veterans”, based on extensive quantitative data and rich qualitative material, he demonstrated how existential threat, loss, and exposure to high-intensity combat forged exceptionally strong bonds among veterans of the 1991–1995 war, referred to in Croatia as Defenders (Branitelji). By examining existential threat, spontaneous wartime rituals, and exceptionally strong intragroup cohesion, the lecture encompassed more than a decade of research on how war experiences became deeply embedded in both personal and collective identity.
The visit of Dr. Igor Mikloušić is part of the PERSON project (Perception of Threats, Identity, and Social Cohesion) as well as the APVV-23-0641 project Digital Twin of Slovakia, led by Justin E. Lane. A joint memorandum of further cooperation between the Ivo Pilar Institute of Social Sciences in Zagreb and the Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology of SAS will soon follow this collaboration.
Photo 1. Snapshot of seminar participation (© T. Zachar Podolinská)
Photo 2. Discussion during the seminar (© T. Zachar Podolinská)
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