‘A Blitzkrieg Against the Republika Srpska’: Securitizing Constitutional Reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Kasapović, Mak; Kočan, Faris

doi:10.1080/17449057.2022.2072560

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…In case of unification, they would be a clear minority and easily overvoted. The power they have in their entity and at the national level, provided by the current Constitution, would be significantly threatened if the Constitution changes, which results in blocking any constitutional changes for over two decades (Kasapović & Kočan, 2022). Serbs do not see unification as a possibility they would agree to, while it is the opposite for Bosniaks—they even define reconciliation in terms of unification (Karić & Mihić, 2020).…”

Section: Superordinate (Re)categorization In Overcoming Intergroup Co...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Failed to unite? Conceptualizations of Bosnian–Herzegovinian national identity.

Karić¹,

Cohrs²

2023

Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology

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Identifying with superordinate identities can improve intergroup relations but sometimes it can backfire. Bosnia and Herzegovina offer a real-life context for studying social recategorization after violent conflict, which has not often been done in social psychological research. We applied Q methodology to explore the conceptualizations of Bosnian-Herzegovinian national identity, a category superordinate to ethnic identities of groups living there. Fifty participants from Bosnia and Herzegovina assessed to what extent each of the 48 statements depicting different national identity elements is characteristic for Bosnian-Herzegovinian identity. We identified three salient viewpoints of national identity. In the first viewpoint, national identity is idealized, including only positive elements, and rejecting all negative elements. We argue that this might be due to identity contestation and the self-esteem motive. In the second viewpoint, national identity is conceptualized as an imposed identity influenced by foreign powers, rejecting any positive intergroup relations and national symbols. This negation of Bosnian-Herzegovinian identity might reflect the categorization threat related to the country's political context. In the third viewpoint, formal attributes such as citizenship and geographical determinant are central to Bosnian-Herzegovinian identity, as well as patriotic elements and accepting the country's imperfections, with positive intergroup relations considered uncharacteristic. This might be a more realistic and critical conceptualization of the national identity in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We argue that different understandings of national identity in Bosnia and Herzegovina have different implications for intergroup relations and consequently for the development of society. The study contributes to the body of research on social recategorization in real-life contexts. Public Significance StatementThis article explores how people in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) understand the concept of Bosnian-Herzegovinian identity. The differences in the conceptualization of national identity can serve to practitioners and policymakers to understand how (lack of) adopting the Bosnian-Herzegovinian national identity might be an obstacle for improving relations among ethnic groups in BiH. As identity issues are crucial in Bosnian-Herzegovinian context, this article can also serve to peacebuilders who want to tailor peacebuilding interventions.

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Section: Superordinate (Re)categorization In Overcoming Intergroup Co...mentioning

confidence: 99%