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ABSTRACT
Historically located at the crossroads of multiple political entities, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has been constructed as a European borderland. Since the war of the 1990s, its ethnic and religious diversity has been framed as a security threat. European institutions and Member States are politically, economically and military involved in the state-building and reconciliation processes, set as part of BiH’s path towards the Union. In 2014, Sarajevo was placed at the “heart of Europe” in the opening commemoration of the First World War organized by European embassies and their Bosnian partners. The official narrative that pledged for a century of peace after the century of wars suggested the positive impact of European integration on BiH’s violent past. However, local activists claimed divergent interpretations, be it from a nationalist, anti-imperialist or emancipatory perspective. While the commemoration exulted national divisions, it contributed to the construction of BiH as an unstable borderland, which needs to be pacified. Relying on memory and border studies, this article demonstrates that the attempt to institutionalize a pacified memory of the war resulted in legitimizing the European institutions’ domination over Bosnian polity. In fine, it shows how memory politics participates in the securitization of a European borderland.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 Vijecnica is the City Hall, constructed under Austro-Hungarian rules in BiH, and transformed into the National Library during the Communist Yugoslavia. The building is sadly famous due to its bombing by Serb nationalists’ artillery during the siege of the Bosnian capital in 1992 which led to the loss of more than 2 million burned books.
2 The annex 4 of the Dayton Peace Agreement which still serves as a constitution for Bosnia and Herzegovina established a triple power-sharing system. It recognizes “3 constituent nations” (the Bosniaks, the Serbs, and the Croats) and two entities (the Republika Srpska—here after RS—and the Federation) separated by the inter-ethnic boundaries lines IEBL. Therefore, the imposed constitution puts ethnicity at the heart of the political system.
3 Joseph Zimet, Commémorer la Grande Guerre (2014–2020) : propositions pour un centenaire international, Rapport au Président de la République, September 2011
4 This initiative was, in fact, overlapping with another project proposed a few years before by a local cultural figure and also supported by the city of Sarajevo. This project aimed at making Sarajevo the European capital of culture 2014. Although this project was discussed and supported by the European Parliament, the EU Commission did not accept the project since Bosnia and Herzegovina could not compete according to the rules of the program which excluded candidate and potential candidate countries. However, the lobbying strategy implemented to promote this project had already forced the EU Commission to get involved in the organization of an event in the BiH capital in 2014. This part of the negotiation could not be treated here but represents an important part of the ongoing research from which this article is extracted.
5 The Austrian government was particularly trying to keep track of the organization of commemorations in Sarajevo. Its political investment reflected the fact that its own national history, through the experiences of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was at stake. Moreover, BiH and the Balkans, are still at the core of its geopolitical sphere of influence. The Austrian Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture even mandated a special envoy for international cultural-political projects to coordinate all Austrian activities for the First World War commemoration.
6 Fieldwork diary notes, July 2012.
7 Fieldwork diary notes, July 2012.
8 Interview, German embassy's attaché, October 2014.
9 Interview, French Institute employee, April 2016.
10 Joseph Zimet, Commémorer la Grande Guerre (2014–2020): propositions pour un centenaire international, Rapport au Président de la République, September 2011.
11 Interview, German embassy's attaché, October 2014.
12 Interview, Bosnian Member of the foundation “Sarajevo Heart of Europe,” July 2014.
13 Sarajevo Heart of Europe, Program, Sarajevo Heart of Europe Foundation, 2014.
14 Interview, German embassy’s attaché, October 2014.
15 Call for projects, European Union Delegation in Sarajevo, 2013.
16 Mission du Centenaire, Press Kit, 2014.
17 Sarajevo Heart of Europe, Program, Sarajevo Heart of Europe foundation, 2014.
18 Ibid.
19 “Bosnian Serbs Oppose Sarajevo WW1 Centenary” Balkan Insight, May 11, 2013 available at http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/dodik-opposses-sarajevo-marking-of-outbreak-of-first-world-war (accessed January 2, 2018).
20 “Remembering World War I in the Conflict’s Flash Point”, New York Times, June 29, 2014. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/30/arts/music/the-vienna-philharmonic-recalls-world-war-i-in-sarajevo.html.
21 “Sarajevo marks 100th anniversary of Gavrilo Princip’s shot which started First World War”, The Telegraph, June 28, 2014 available at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-one/10932487/Sarajevo-marks-100th-anniversary-of-Gavrilo-Princips-shot-which-started-First-World-War.html.
22 “Monument to Gavrilo Princip unveiled in East Sarajevo”, B92, June 27, 2014, available at https://www.b92.net/eng/news/region.php?yyyy=2014&mm=06&dd=27&nav_id=90812.
23 ”Gavrilo Princip: Bosnian Serbs remember an assassin”, BBC, June 28, 2014, available at http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28033613.
24 See Zimet (Citation2014).
25 Interview, activist, Sarajevo, October 2014.
26 Fieldwork diary notes, June 2014.
27 Interview, activists, Sarajevo, June 2014.
28 “Centenaire de 1914 : le plenum des citoyens de Sarajevo s’invite dans les cérémonies”, Courrier des Balkans, June 28, 2014, available at https://www.courrierdesbalkans.fr/centenaire-de-1914-le-plenum-des-citoyens-de-sarajevo-s-invite-dans-les-ceremonies.
29 Originally published in Novilist.hr the article was translated and published in French by Courrier International : see “14–18. Sarajevo n’a pas besoin de ce centenaire pompeux”, Courrier International, June 27, 2014, available at https://www.courrierinternational.com/article/2014/06/26/sarajevo-n-a-pas-besoin-de-ce-centenaire-pompeux.
30 Fieldwork diary notes, June 2014.
31 The military mission of the EU in BiH, active since 2004.
32 UK Embassy in Sarajevo, Press release, July 2014.