Source
Overview
before Bosnia and Herzegovina emerged as a new independent state it was one of the six constitutive republics of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) which comprises Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. During the 1980’s Yugoslavia faced a deep political and economic crisis which gave rise to the emergence of new political parties in its different constituent republics. The new parties were democratic and largely with an ethnic prefix. They aim to replaced the communist one-party regime with a pluralistic democratic political setting and indeed they were successful during the election of 1991. However instead of bringing order and positive change into the already declining economy of Yugoslavia, the new political elites started inciting ethnic tensions and renewing nationalist ideologies. In addition, the inherited economic decentralization turned to fed corruption and crime that greatly threatened the existence of the state. Yugoslavia which has long been a patchwork of diverse ethnic and cultural groups began to fall in the 1980’s. Ethnic groups began to assert for their autonomy and the power and legitimacy of the multinational communist state began to decline. This political and economic chaos which happened in Yugoslavia culminated into a series of wars including the most brutal one that happened in Bosnia and Herzegovina starting with their proclamation of independence in April 1992. Bosnia and Herzegovina suffered civil war caused by nationalist claims along with ethno-religious lines of which among the most prominent were the Catholic Croats, Orthodox Serbs, and Muslim Bosniaks. After nearly four years of fighting, a US-led intervention resulted into the implementation of the Dayton Peace Accord which ended the war in the late 1995. But even though the war itself ended in 1995 several researches and case studies would claim that Bosnia and Herzegovina was far from experiencing peace and stability among its different ethnic groups.
This research is about ethnic rivalry in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It deals with intense ethnic nationalism among the three prominent ethnic groups in BiH -the Serbs, Croats, and Bosniaks- as well as their struggles towards building a collective Bosnian identity.
The Rivalry between Serbs, Croats, Bosniaks
Bosnia and Herzegovina declared its independence from the former state of Yugoslavia on April 7, 1992. It was recognized by the EC and its member states and on May 22, 1922 BiH was admitted as a Member Sate to the UN. But the hope to bring back the order by replacing communist regime turned out to became a nightmare for the newly independent state when after declaring independence war broke out among its three major ethnic groups. The Bosnian War happened in 1992-1995. It divided the country ethnically and developed ethnic rivalry among the Serbs, Croats, and Bosniaks which then led to create a major conflict that remained until this very day. In order to fully understand the current situation of Bosnia, it is very important that we deal first with its crucial past for it will tell us many things about the origin of the conflicts. The authors Timo Kivimaki, Marina Kramer and Paul Pasch (2012) analyzes the three important historical phases in the context of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The first phase was categorized as the pre-war period which covers until 1992. This was the period when BiH was still part of the six constitutive republics of The Socialist Federative Republics of Yugoslavia. According to them, the pre-war society or mentality that prevails in this period was characterized by a sense of brotherhood and unity and focuses on a citizenship-based identity. During this period no nation or Republic is considered as dominant over the other. The communist regime coupled economic pluralism, free travel, and relative intellectual freedoms. However as the communist regime faces economic crisis and plunked with corruption and scandals, ethno-nationalist aspirations came to emerged and it was during this point that Yugoslavia started to dissolve. The second phase covered 1992-1995, the period when Bosnia suffered from the so called Bosnian War. This phase was characterized by extreme nationalism, instrumentalization of religion for ethno-nationalist purposes, violence and war crimes. Each ethnic groups -the Serbs, Croats, and Bosniaks attempt to territorially divide BiH along ethnic lines. The Serbs occupied Republika Srpska (RS), the Croats had Herceg-Bosna, and the Bosniaks had the Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia. During this period war crimes were committed by all groups, however Bosniaks suffered the most casualties. It came to the point wherein the partition is associated with the atrocity of violent ethnic cleansing. The atrocities of war committed in the interest of ethnic cleansing further strengthened the Bosniak sense of ownership of the country. Accordingly, the separate territories of the three ethnicity were created through ethnic cleansing. Even until today the three main groups of BiH still have different interpretations about the causes of the war that happened. In fact according to Kivimaki, Kramer, and Pasch many of the recent political disputes today were derived from the different interpretations of the Bosnian War. The third crucial phase in the history of BiH was the post-war period which covers from 1995 until present, or categorized by the authors as the Dayton society or mentality. Accordingly, the mentality developed during this time focuses on ethnicity, religion-based identity and segregation. As mentioned previously the Bosnian War ended with the signing of the Dayton Peace Accord. In accordance to the terms of the peace accord, Bosnia and Herzegovina was divided into two entities and three ethnicities. The two entities were Republika Srpska which occupies 49 percent of the Bosnian territory and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a Bosniak-Croatian federation which occupies 51 percent of the territory. Each of the three ethnic groups profess deep ethno-nationalism.
What is ethno nationalism?
Majstorovic and Turjacanin (2013) defined nationalism to be the focus of identity and loyalty which represents the basis of collective activity while ethnic nationalism was further deprived of its own state and represents the loyalty to an ethnic group. Ethnicity which is a kind of social categorization is not permanent according to the authors, but in the context of Bosnia and Herzegovina it represents the most significant sociopolitical categorization and organization. The Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks in Bosnia and Herzegovina is working for the benefit and improvement of their own ethnic groups and not for the benefit of everyone in the country. Their loyalty was towards their ethnicity and not to the state of BiH.
How does each ethnic groups perceived Bosnia and Herzegovina?
The Serbs sees BiH as a virtual state, only there because of the presence of international community. Most of the Serbs behave as if Republika Srpska was a state itself and that they felt to have connections to Bosnia. The Croats think that it is unfair that there are three main constitutive ethnic groups but only two entities. They wanted to create another entity dominated by them and gain the same status like Republika Srpska. The Bosniaks supported the idea of a unitary state. They do not agree with the current structure of BiH as established by the Dayton Peace Accord. The Bosniaks wanted the two entities dissolved.
Serbs vs Croats vs Bosniaks
Source
Many case studies about Bosnia and Herzegovina reveals the factual dominance of one ethnic group over the other and this was a major issue and at the same time became a big obstacle in the creation of a collective Bosnian identity. The three constitutive people always have different religious and contrasting political views. In the past these three ethnic groups together with their religion coexisted and intermarried for centuries in BiH. But the war radicalized the nationalist movements. Ana Hacic-Vlahovic (2008) study focuses on the relationship between ethnic identity and religious affiliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Hacic-Vlahovic claimed that the long conflict that happened during the disintegration of Yugoslavia radically and permanently changed the ethnic and religious composition of the country. Accordingly, when communism collapsed in Yugoslavia, nationalist sentiments were revived through the manipulation of religious doctrine by nationalist politicians. Instead of fighting about religion nationalist make used of ethno-religious identity as a rallying mechanism to unify their populations. Today it seem very difficult to separate the affiliation of one ethnic group towards their religious affiliation. The three ethnic groups involved are generally categorized as Orthodox Christian Serbs, Catholic Croats, and Muslim Bosniaks. The Serbs nominally feels opposed in their efforts to established their own independent state. They are not satisfied with the current structure of BiH because they do not feel that they can exert enough power over their own affairs. The study of James Ker-Lindsay (2016) specifically focuses on the possible threat of the unilateral declaration of independence by Republika Srpska. Lindsay claimed that the declaration of independence by Republika Srpska does not represent a credible threat to the territorial integrity of Bosnia because according to him Bosnia is protected by many “specific safeguards” including the UN resolutions and the support of the leading international powers which guarantee the sovereignty and integrity of Bosnia, ensuring that the Republika Srpska would not gain any recognition. On the other hand, the Croats greatly dislike the fact that they lost the independence they gained through Herceg-Bosna. They were unhappy with the dominance of the Bosniaks in the Ferderation. They remained attached to their homeland Croatia and aimed to have their own state. On the other perspective, the Bosniaks also feels that they were permanent victims of Croatian and Serbian ethno-nationalists. Being a poor republic they feel that they were overlooked by the development initiatives and investment policies initiated by the central government during the pre-war period. The Bosniaks were the ones who most strongly relate to the unitary state compared to Serbs and Croats because of the reason that they have no other homeland to turn to. Torsten Kolind (2008) in his book entitled Post-War Identification: Everyday Counterdiscourse in Bosnia and Herzegovina reveals that Bosniaks does not favored the Bosnian identity by choice but rather by chance. Because of the fact that if they won’t defend what they have now then they wouldn’t know where would they turn to. It appears that while the Serbs and Croats strive in asserting for their own independent state, Bosniaks were defending what they have.
Conclusion
In conclusion, ethnic nationalism in Bosnia and Herzegovina was derived from the mentality that was developed during the war period. Those mentality created a great division and distrust among the rival ethnic groups that they carried until the present time. The main reason why it was very hard for the three ethnic groups to developed a peaceful coexistence in Bosnia and Herzegovina was because they seemed very attached and relied heavily on the injustices and conflicts that happened during the war. There were always doubt and discrimination against the rival ethnic group. Their loyalty was heavily directed towards their ethnic groups and not towards the state of BiH, the reason also why they hardly developed a sense of a collective Bosnian identity.
REFERENCES
BOOKS
Ker-Lindsay, James. The Hollow Threat of Secession in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Legal and Political Impediments to a Unilateral Declaration of Independence by Republika Srpska. London: LSEE Research on South Eastern Europe, 2016.
Kivimaki,Timo, Kramer,Marina and Pasch,Paul. The Dynamics of Conflict in the Multi-ethnic Sate of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Country-Conflict Analysis Study. Sarajevo: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, 2012.
Kolind, Torsten. Post-War Identification: Everyday Muslim Counterdiscourse in Bosnia and Herzegovina. United Kingdom:Aarhus University Press, 2008.
Majstorovic, Danijela and Turjacanin,Vladimir. Youth Ethnic and National Identity in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Palgrave Macmillan: Swiss Development and Cooperation,2013.
Scheck, Hanah. Changing Identities in South Eastern Europe: Between Europeanisation, Globalisation, Regionalisation, and Nationalism. Austria: Centre
for Social Innovation, 2012.
JOURNALS
Hacic-Vlahovic, Ana. “(De)Secularization in Bosnia and Herzegovina:An Examination of Religiosity Trends in the Multi-Ethnic Society.” Amsterdam Social Science,Vol.1(1), (2008).
Oellers-Frahm, Karin. “Restructuring Bosnia and Herzegovina.” Max Plank Yearbook of United Nations Law 9,(2005).
Torsti,Pilvi. “History Culture and Banal Nationalism in post-War Bosnia.” Southeast European Politics, Vol.5(2-3),(2004).
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