The “national key” in Bosnia and Herzegovina: a historical perspective

The 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement in Bosnia and Herzegovina instituted ethnic quotas between Bosniaks, Serbs, and Croats: the three “constituent peoples.” This institutionalization of ethnicity, criticized by some contemporary authors, is often seen as a creation of the peace agreement. Interestingly, several scholars deem such proportional representation a legacy from socialist times. But the existing literature lacks a historical perspective on the question of ethnic quotas. In addressing this issue, this paper reminds one of the existence of ethnic quotas, called the “national key,” during socialist times. A deeper analysis of the “national key” in the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and of the ethnic quotas in the last two decades shows, interestingly, more differences than continuity. The article concludes that few similarities and more differences can be observed between the two periods, especially regarding the legal aspects of the “national key,” in ideological justification and in the conceptions based on parity or proportional representation.     

No future? Narrating the past in Bosnian history museums

Recent unrest and the 2014 elections have corroborated the impression of Bosnia as a failing state, one that is constantly being undermined by the three-way impasse between constituent ethnic groups of Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs. Major history museums in Bosnia, however, provide a more complex picture. This paper analyzes museums and exhibitions on twentieth-century history in Sarajevo, Banja Luka, and Jajce, with regard to their narrative strategies, their aesthetic appearance, and the commemorative practices in their respective locations. From this perspective, the use of history in building group identity in Bosnia is far from coherent. Although museums are one means to assert firmly entrenched national identities both old and new, they compete at the same time with nostalgic commemorations of socialist Yugoslavia and with equally nostalgic references to the Austrian occupation. Various civic groups struggle to assert their visions of belonging, mostly with rather modest financial means. Based on these findings, this paper will explore not only the underlying assumptions of what history and, in particular, museums are all about, but also how visions of the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina are inscribed in these uses of history – if indeed they are.     

The production of the war criminal cult: Radovan Karadžić and Vojislav Šešelj at The Hague

This article examines how defendants on trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) appropriate the tribunal as a platform for national myth and group making. Specifically, the article analyzes Radovan Karad?i? and Vojislav ?e?elj’s “performances” at The Hague in order to highlight the particular ways in which the defendants craft and mobilize the nationalist narrative. The article introduces the phenomenon of “the war criminal cult” and traces three stages of its production, including the defendants’ collectivization of guilt, epitomization of The Hague as the ultimate enemy of the nation, and construction of “Serbs” as the biggest victims of international justice and of themselves as martyrs befallen with the task of defending the dignity of the nation. The “war criminal cult” is thus “made” in conversation with the “imperial West” in a collective narrative that contests the legitimacy and the intention of The Hague while disguising individual responsibility.     

Teachers’ perspectives on educating for peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina

What does it mean to educate for peace after witnessing one’s community being devastated by war? And what impact, if any, does educating for peace have amidst the complexity of post-war reconstruction? To explore these questions, a phenomenological study was conducted in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2012 with eight ethnically diverse educators who participated in a programme of Education for Peace (EFP) which began a decade earlier in the cities of Sarajevo, Mostar, Banja Luka and Zenica. Through semi-structured interviews, the study (1) explores meanings and experiences associated by participants with their role as post-conflict peace educators, (2) examines the extent and limits of their sense of peacebuilding agency and (3) elicits evaluations of the longer term impacts of educating for peace in the Bosnian context. The study finds that meanings associated with educating for peace are nuanced by educators’ personal histories of conflict, professional identities and the country’s wider socio-political dynamics. Benefits, risks and challenges stemming from peace education engagement are found in four domains (personal, social, educational and political). Conclusions recommend greater focus to the subjectivities of teachers in conflict-affected contexts as a key site for evaluating peacebuilding impact, for revising theories of change and improving planning and provision.     

Vigilante justice in post-communist Europe

Five cases in which the names of former secret informers who supplied information to the communist secret political police were unofficially disclosed are discussed in terms of the motivations of their authors, their timing relative to 1989 and their countries’ lustration and file access legislation, and the information they make available to the general public. After contrasting them with civil society efforts to promote transitional justice and unofficial truth projects, it becomes evident that these unofficial disclosures were animated by revenge as much as the quest for unveiling the truth about communist repression.