The Republika Srpska as a strong nationalizing state and the consequences for postethnic activism

Abstract

This paper explores the limits and possibilities for postethnic mobilization in Bosnia-Herzegovina. It employs and critically assesses Tarrow's classic concept of political opportunity structure for the explaining the variations in the occurrence of postethnic mobilization in Bosnia-Herzegovina, a deeply divided society. While the main cleavages in the country run along ethnic lines, a number of groups and NGOs attempt to mobilize alternative identities across ethnic boundaries. These groups are mostly based in the Federation entity of Bosnia-Herzegovina and not in the Republika Srpska. My analysis shows that the concept of political opportunity structure only partly explains this difference. I thus suggest an alternative perspective, which takes into account the cultural environment in which the mobilization happens. The first part of the paper expands on the definition of postethnic activism, explaining what it is and how I proceeded in researching postethnic groups in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The second part uses the framework of political opportunity structure for assessing the influence of environmental factors on the emergence and development of postethnic activism. The third part of the paper evaluates the relevance of the political opportunity structure framework, considers the merits of an approach which takes into account the cultural context, and suggests some further avenues for research.

Keywords:

• Bosnia
• nationalism
• ethnicity

Notes

A deeply divided society is defined by Horowitz (204, n. 1) as “one in which ethnic divisions are salient in politics and interethnic antipathy is present.”

Interviews with Darko Brkan and Demir Mahmutcehajić, Sarajevo, August 2009.

For more on the difference between terms of practice and terms of analysis, see Brubaker and Cooper.

Phone interview with P., December 2008.

Social movements are defined as “collectivities acting with some degree of organization and continuity outside of institutional or organizational channels for the purpose of challenging or defending extant authority, whether it is institutionally or culturally based, in the group, organization, society, culture, or world order of which they are a part” (Snow, Soule and Kriesi 11).

For the analysis I shall combine 3 and 4.

One case (not postethnic) points out the general climate in the RS with regard to advocacy groups and NGOs. On 10 July 2008, Transparency International, a well-respected international NGO, shut down its offices in Banja Luka for a couple of weeks, citing security concerns for its staff (Human Rights Watch), following an intimidation campaign by the RS government.

This interview with Odisej was done by journalist Peter Lippman in December 2008.

Danis Tanović, who later became one of the leaders of Naša Stranka.

For a longer discussion of the dominance of ethnic parties in Bosnia, see Bieber 103–07.

Definition of an “ethnic party” according to Chandra (236): “An ethnic party appeals to voters as the champion of the interests of one ethnic category or set of categories to the exclusion of others, and makes such an appeal central to its mobilizing strategy.”

Personal communications with members of Akcija Gradjana, August 2009.

See Gallup Balkan Monitor (http://www.balkan-monitor.eu/index.php/dashboard) for results from 2006–2010.

SDP president Zlatko Lagumdžija chairs the board of the Bosniak Institute in Sarajevo. He has also performed a public prayer in Bratunac, an event which was publicized in Oslobodjenje (Ljubić and Marko 161).

McAdam, Tarrow and Tilly have proposed the Dynamics of Contention approach partly as a response to these criticisms.

Informal conversation with D., April 2009.

Interview with Tanja Topić, Banja Luka, April 2009.

Rogers Smith provides us with another vocabulary for addressing these processes of “nationalizing” in his work Stories of Peoplehood. Smith discerns different types of peoplehood, arranged on a scale from strong to weak and from narrow to wide. An example of strong and wide political peoplehood is the US; strong and midrange would be Quebec; weak and wide, Puerto Rico; weak and midrange, Brooklyn. According to this typology we can consider Republika Srpska peoplehood strong and wide, and Bosnian Croatian peoplehood strong and midrange (but much less so in the Bosnian context); Bosniak peoplehood is moderate and midrange.

There was a Mostar Dosta cell in 2009, which now seems inactive. Additionally, the city has a number of small antifascist groups, such as Kre(Ak)tiva (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=296653252027) and Antifa Mostar (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=147880688559281).