Politics
The country is a parliamentary democracy. The last general elections were held in December 2011, in which the Kukiriku coalition, made up of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Croatian People's Party (HNS), the Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS), and the Croatian Party of Pensions (HSU), won with a majority 80 seats. The ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), which had governed Croatia for much of its history since independence, gained only 44 seats plus 3 diaspora seats. (HDZ had ruled Croatia in a coalition itself since 2003.)

Presidential elections were held in December 2009 and January 2010 to elect a new president following two terms by President Stipe Mesic. No one candidate (from 12) managed to obtain more than 50% of the vote in first round of elections in December 2009, so a second round took place on 10th January 2010 between the top two candidates - Ivo Josipovic (Social Democratic Party) and Milan Bandic (Independent). Josipovic came away with 64% of the vote and became the new - and third - President of Croatia.

Croatia received an invitation to join NATO in 2008, and officially became a member on 1 April 2009.

Croatia is not yet a member of the European Union, although, after a number of years of entry negotiations, is very nearly there! On 9th December 2011, President Ivo Josipovic and outgoing Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor signed Croatia's accession treaty to the EU. You can read more about this from this BBC News article: Croatia signs treaty to join EU in middle of 2013 or from Bloomberg: Croatia Signs Up to Become EU’s 28th Member. You may also be interested in an article from earlier in 2011, when the European Commission officially recommended to the EU that they should accept Croatia: Croatia cleared for EU membership in 2013.

Croatia is scheduled to become the EU's 28th member state on 1st July 2013.