Theme III 2a Bosnian War (1992-1995) +

Theme III 2a: Bosnian War (1992-1995) 1 There were Serbs who stabbed her in the stomach, cut her open and took two small children out of her stomach and then beat them to death on the ground. Testimony of Ramiza Gurdić 2 2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srebrenica_massacre#Rape_and_abuse_of_civilians 1 https://time.com/3787440/bosnia/

Key Concepts 1. Peace a. Absence of War b. Interests of different parties catered to without the need to resort to war 2. Peace Enforcement a. Use of military force to impose a peace on belligerents 3. Peace Building a. Reduces risk of lapsing into conflict by strengthening national capacities at all levels of conflict management and lay the foundation for sustainable peace 4. Cooperation a. State and non-state actors adjust their behaviour to the anticipated or actual preferences of others through policy coordination b. Exhibited by i. Participating in peace negotiations ii. A few actors allying themselves against a greater common enemy 5. Conflict a. Incompatible or competitive interests, hence countries strive to reduce the gains available to other states or impede their achievements b. Attributed to divergence in political security, economic or ideological interests Causes (Ethnic and Religious Nationalism) 1. After Tito’s death, competing ethnic nationalism gained strength as they were able to provide a sense of kinship and shared beliefs. However, they also divided the Yugoslavians along ethnic nationalist lines, resulting in different population groups viewing each other as enemies. a. Milosevic rose to power on a platform of extreme Serbian nationalism. Calling for the expansion of Serbia int Bosnia. In 1988, he identified the Bosnians as an internal enemy, directly antagonising the Bosnian muslims and fuelling tension in Bosnia between the Bosniaks, the government and their supporters. b. Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) launched a nationalistic campaign rallying for a “Greater Croatia” that included Croat-Majority areas in Bosnia as well as played up the imagined barbaric nature of Serbs. By dehumanising Serbs and reducing them to inhumane, the propensity for Croats to empathise, much less see Serbs as fellow countrymen is greatly reduced. Generating hate. 2. Religion played a role in motivation and justification of violence tied to ethno-nationalism of their perpetrators that justified the need for brutality to defend their faith and bring about a new social and political order. a. Slavic differences reinforced by the split in the Christian Church with the Croats identifying with Roman Catholicism and Serbs, Greek-Orthadox. A legacy of struggle

and longstanding animosity was also imported into the perception that both ethnic groups viewed each other. Reinforcing an already negative perception. b. Croat Catholics campaigned for Stepinac’s canonisation due to his opposition to the Yugoslav communists attempts to control the church while the Serbs hated him for his suspected support of the Croatian Nazi government and failure to take a strong stance in defence of those prosecuted by the Nazis. Causes (Economic Interests) 1. Regional imbalances fueled resentment and competition between republics as economic models adopted became increasingly divergent. This resulted in economic nationalism and controversy that one republic was being exploited by other republics, fuelling resentment. a. Richer Croatia supported economic reforms and pushed far greater marketisation due to stronger private sectors while the Serbs were more resistant to market reforms due to stronger focus on heavy industries. Contradicting economic interests that fuelled economic nationalism as the unifying federal system weakened, resulting in one republic becoming more economically independent from the other, fracturing the country further. b. Serbian Memorandum accused Yugoslav economic policies of intentionally plunging Serbia into economic backwardness. Feeling that it was continuously discriminated within Yugoslavia economically, this fuelled Serbia's vengeance and indignation. 2. IMF structural adjustment policies shifted Yugoslav’s command economy to market-based too quickly. Spurred by a desire to safeguard its assets from market forces, different republics called for self-determination, increasing nationalistic sentiments. a. IMF required expenditure cuts amounting to 5% of GDP, preventing the federal government from having access to credits from its own rental banks. The freezing of transfer payments to republics invoked anger of the republics to the central government as their budgetary process and financial ability froze, thus further fracturing the cohesiveness of the state. b. IMF forced governments to stop funding “loss-making enterprises". This resulted in 900 enterprises closing and over half a million workers laid off. The spike in unemployment alarmed the Serbian and Bosnian governments with anger on the streets due to the unemployment being attributed to the federal government. Causes(Domestic Politics) 1. Political elites used nationalism to mobilise considerable sections of the population to strengthen their respective positions, radicalising their political struggle. Propaganda and populist messages hardened the stance of each side against the other, making them less willing to compromise. a. Serb extremists wielded propaganda reminding their compatriots of the Croatian Vatasha and demanded reductions in autonomy of certain states to revive Serbian dominance. Increasing hatred of the Serbian people against the Croatians. b. Croatian nationalists used Serbian Chetniks, anti-communists who supported both the Nazi and allies to wan of planned Serbian uprisings in Bosnia. This increased the

suspicion of Croatians towards the Serbian people, promoting distrust as well as drive fragmentation due to them being inflammatory remarks. 2. Although Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia divided political power equically, power sharing arrangement proved unstable as tensions increased. Equal power sharing evolved into a competition for influence through competing political views. a. Although the Muslim party of the Democratic Action’s Izetbegovic committed to a multinational state pushed for Bosnian independence from Serbian-dominated Yugoslavia. b. Republik Srpska, with Milosevic’s aid, established a JNA army in Bosnia by transferring Bosnian-born soldiers into Republic Srpska and with support from the Arkan Tigers. The availability of an army meant that