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Abstract
Public opinion polling has been used in Northern Ireland, Macedonia and Cyprus to develop policies and agreements that have wide popular support. Using the same methods of inter-track public diplomacy, a poll was conducted in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2004 to find out what the people there believe needs to be done to achieve reconciliation, economic self-sustainability and effective government in the future. Apart from the controversial topic of responsibility for the war, the poll demonstrated a strong consensus on the way ahead, including municipal and constitutional reform, if undertaken in the context of economic development and EU accession. An ongoing programme of such research should help politicians, their electorate and the international community to achieve these objectives.
Notes
1. A detailed account of the polls is given in Irwin Citation(2002a).
2. This survey was commissioned by the BBC World Service Trust on behalf of the Our Town, Our Future project which is funded by the European Commission and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. The research was undertaken by Dr Colin Irwin of the Queens University of Belfast. Coordination was provided by the Center for Democracy and Reconciliation in Southeast Europe, Thessaloniki, with the assistance of BORAM, Sarajevo. The public opinion survey work was conducted by Prism Research, BiH between 9 and 23 July 2004 to produce 1200 ‘face to face’ interviews with citizens and 300 interviews with municipal employees representing a cross-section of the adult population of Bosnia and Herzegovina in terms of age, gender, social background, political views, nationality and geographical area. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the author and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Commission or the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.
3. This project has been commissioned by the Centre for Democracy and Reconciliation in South East Europe, Thessaloniki, Greece; KosovaLive, Pristina, Kosovo and BETA, Belgrade, Serbia. See www.kosovakosovo.com.
4. Only a few of the statistical results can be presented here. Full results are available on the project website at www.peacepolls.org.
5. Details on OSCE programmes in Bosnia Herzegovina are available at: http://www.oscebih.org/democratization.