District Brčko of Bosnia and Herzegovina: History and importance for stability of peace in Bosnia

Student Thesis

Level: University

District Brčko of Bosnia and Herzegovina:

History and importance for stability of peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Author: Sanel Zilić

Supervisor: Amr Saget

Examiner: Amr Sabet

Subject/main field of study: Paper for University Diploma in Political science

Course code: SK1049

Credits: 7,5 ECTS

Date of public presentation/examination: 2015-10-26

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Table of content:

Abstract

In this Research paper I will discuss the importance of District Brčko of Bosnia and Herzegovina for peace and stability in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In this paper I will include the time from1992 (the beginning of war in Brčko and Bosnia), Dayton peace negotiations (which brought a peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina), grounding decision for Brčko District in 1999 and its important facts for Bosnia and Herzegovina, what this decision brought good and what does not function, up to latest decision of frizzing of OHR office in district Brčko. I will also highlight current political discourse in Bosnia and Herzegovina and its effects on security in Bosnia and Herzegovina are.

Keywords: District Brčko, Ethnic segregation, Dayton peace agreement, Separation process in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Peace in Bosnia, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of Srpska.

1. Introduction

In 1995 with signing the Dayton Peace Agreement (DPA) armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina has ended. It was signed by representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Alija Izetbegović-Bosnian president), Serbia (Slobodan Milošević-President of Serbia) and Croatia (Franjo Tudjman-President of Croatia) and the Contact Group Nations (United States, Britain, France, Germany, and Russia and the European Union Special Negotiator). Amongst other, DPA has divided Bosnia in two parts (Serbian Republic with Serb majority and Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina with Bosnian and Croat majority). It is important to mention that Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is then divided in ten Cantons. Most of them are with Bosnian majority, but some of them are also with Croat majority, mainly in southern Bosnia.

DPA has indeed stopped the armed conflict in Bosnia, but it did not resolve the ethnic tensions that where still more then obvious in Bosnia. Milestone of ethnical and religious division is the education in Bosnia. At the moment there are three different curriculums active in Bosnian primary schools: Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian. Radušić (2009) writes that there are no teaching plans and programs at the state level, but only at the Entity level (Radušić, 2009:2). Radušić (2009) was speaking about the “National groups of subject (History, Mother Language, Geography and Religious lectures)”.

This is to show that conflict and ethnical division are still present and that there is still danger of another armed conflict. Since none of the three sides in conflict could agree about to which Entity Brčko will belong, the final decision for Brčko was sent to international arbitration. Brčko was firstly placed under international supervision in 1997. Finally, in 1999 Brčko was declared to be under the exclusive sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina and was finally inaugurated on March 8, 2000. So, Brčko district has not been appointed to any entity and from the eyes of international community and local politicians it is seen as an example of coexistence of all three main ethnicities that live here.

1.1. Introduction to the issue area

As already mentioned the ethnic tensions in Brčko is still a phenomena that keeps Brčko and the rest of Bosnia and Herzegovina going forward towards EU integrations since it has great influence on politics in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Ethnic tensions are being fueled by State and local politicians with the aim to keep them in the ruling places. If we take the high unemployment (even poverty) in consideration and ethnic tensions fueled by the politicians we can see that new conflict is more than possible. Being affected by ethnic tensions and what it produces in my everyday life I have decided to implement a research that would give an answer to the question: is a new conflict possible in Bosnia and Herzegovina and could Brčko be the trigger to it?

As already mentioned, by the DPA, Brčko was not assigned to any Entity and because of the big number of returnees; one could argue that it is the only multi ethnic municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina (including maybe Mostar). I believe that this research is important since Brčko is the only multi ethnic municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina and it reflects the ethnic relations in whole Bosnia and Herzegovina. So, if the conflict starts here, most probably it will start in Bosnia and Herzegovina and then in the region.

Professor Moor (2007) argued that there are 3 main reasons that the project called Brčko would fail:

1. Electoral system and veto procedures,

2. Indirect election of District mayor preventing voters to elect them

3. Veto provisions into the Assembly voting procedures based on ethnicity (Moore, 2007).

The aim of this research is to identify possible triggers for new conflict in Brčko and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

1.1. a Context information

Population:

Brčko district before the war was a multiethnic municipality with 87,332 inhabitants, whereof in 1991lived: 38,771 (44%) Muslims (today known as Bosniaks), 18,133 (21%) Serbs, 22,163 (25%) Croats, and 8,265 (10%) designated themselves as belonging to some "other" ethnic group.(Statistical department of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1991:11).

Map presents Bosnia and Herzegovina ethnic population in 1991

- Green: Muslims-Bosniaks

- Red: Bosnian Croats

- Blue: Bosnian Serbs

1.1.b Starting and end of armed conflict in Brčko:

Even months before the official start of war people have arranged defending of their villages by civilians with arms. Villages where mostly mono ethnic, so every nationality arranged guarding their villages by them self. Yugoslav Folks Army has in summer of1991 in-grounded their facilities in the town of Brčko. (Military in Yugoslavia was always in middle of each town). They have protected them self against own town and people they should protect. Formal start of war was blowing up two bridges on river Sava and border between Bosnia and Croatia in Brčko on the morning of 30 May1992.Brčkowas strategic connection between east and west parts of so called Serbian territory. During a first year of war in Brčko has opened concentration camps and executed civilians where only in 1992 994 civilians were killed by Serbian army. In total almost 1900 civilians in town has been killed during war in Brčko under Serbian control.

“Map presents Bosnia and Herzegovina ethnical population in 1996 (after the war).

- Green: Muslims-Bosniaks

- Red: Bosnian Croats

- Blue: Bosnian Serbs

At this stage it is important to mention that the eventual ethnic conflict in Brčko might cause the escalation of conflict in the whole region in case Republic of Srpska, an entity in Bosnia, decide to take steps to be recognized as own state even, if it would only be recognized by Serbia and maybe Russia.

1.1. c Political challenges for Brčko district

After the final arbitrary decision Brčko was meant to be an example of ethnical co- existence in Bosnia. Prof. Adam Moore from the UCLA argues that Brčko is a remarkably successful peace building story and that thousands of Bosnians and Croats have returned to their pre-war homes and Serbs from Croatia and Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina have moved to Brčko (Moore, 2007). He says that Brčko was designed with the aim of achieving political and social integration of ethnically divided territory (Moore, 2011). However, Moore (2011) gave three reasons why Brčko project might fail: 1. Electoral system and veto procedures, 2. indirect election of District mayor preventing voters to elect themayorand3.Veto provisions into the Assembly voting procedures based on ethnicity (Moore, 2011:12).

Another challenge for Brčko’s peace is the growing corruption that is evident in all aspects of life, such as employment, inefficient administration and other. In the International Crisis Group report (2011) it is said that the Corruption in Brčko is endemic, evident in hiring and tendering procedures, and threatening to destroy the district economically from within (International Crisis Group report, 2011).In this report it also said that Brčko’s system of ethnic quotas of 44-2 (ethnical division of employment places, money distribution - 4 Bosnians, 4 Serbs-2 Croats) has supported the corruption. Political parties have employed friends and relatives regardless of their professional background (International Crisis Group report, 2011)

Partial success of the institution of the High Representative in Brčko was removing nationalistic signs that where present during the war: like adopting the education system suiting all, removing street signs with the names of nationalistic leaders, putting both letters officially recognized in Bosnia on the street signs and other. By implementing the decisions and not living them to local authorities High representative has created the idea that he is the local Government. Jeffrey (2006) says that many local civil society actors

(Such as returnee associations, youth NGOs and pensioner groups) viewed the OHR as the local state on account of its authority to pass and implement laws and shape the conduct of the new District institutions (Jeffrey, 2006:223).

One could argue that during the era of Yugoslavia ethnic differences where pushed under the carpet and that Yugoslav nation was promoted. Varshney (2009) argues that totalitarian regimes push ethnic diversity under the surface and that this often increases the chances of accumulated outburst (Varshney, 2009). It could be argued that political elites in Yugoslavia have used the issue that some ethnicities have felt undermined in Yugoslavia to start a war. Varshney (2009) also argues that ethnicities are often used to gain political power and draw funds from the state and that is why ethnic conflicts happen (Bates, 1974, 1983; Chandra, 2004; Hechter, 1986; Rabushka and Shepsle, 1972 in Varshney, 2009). Oberschal (1978) presents five theories about new wars. Especially applicable for Bosnia is the Identity Politics theory. Oberschal (1978) argues that: Violence breaks out during ethnic rivalry over control of territory and governance amid exaggerated fears of extinction (Oberschal, 1978). If we take these arguments in consideration and analyze political discourse in Bosnia we can assume that new conflict in Bosnia is more than possible.

1.2. Aims of research and research questions

The main aim of this research is to identify possible triggers for starting a new armed conflict in Brčko and Bosnia and Herzegovina, supported by political discourse of international and local politicians and other stakeholders.

Questions that will lead this research are:

 How do political elites in Bosnia and Herzegovina mobilize ethnicities to support elite’s aims?

 How does education system support ethnic segregation in Bosnia and Herzegovina

1.3.Methodology

Methodology that I will use in this research paper is content analysis of texts and media content with interviews of local authorities. Texts and media content will provide me with information

about the ethnic relations in Brčko and how the local politicians’ influence it.I will also examine the content of international documents related to Brčko in order to examine foreign stakeholder ideas and influence on peace building in Brčko. The first step in this research will be collecting the relevant documents, such as DPA, decisions about the education system in Bosnia and Herzegovina, school text books from the “National group of subjects” and media content with interviews with local and international stakeholders. The most proper method would be to interview local and international stakeholders myself, but considering the time factor I believe this is not realistic. Second step will be the analysis of the information that I receive from above mentioned content. I will analyze them according to the value system presented in the documentation and media content. Finally, the third step will be writing the research.

Alan Bryman (2004) defines content analysis as an approach to the analysis of documents and texts (which may be printed or visual) that seek to quantify content in terms of predetermined categories and in a systematic and replicable manner (Bryman, 2004).

Different interviews and documentation will give me insight in the political discourse in currant Bosnia and analyzing interviews from international officials will give me insight about foreign efforts to establish and maintain peace in Bosnia and where Bosnia finds itself world’s political map.

Firstly, I will research internet and other sources for theories about political systems, ethnicities and ethnical conflict. This will allow me to compare theory and practice in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since Bosnia and Herzegovina is not the only country struggling with the issue of ethnic tensions there are many researches implemented in other countries, as well as Bosnia, and many different theories about ethnic relations where developed over the time, so it is useful to see how they are applicable in Bosnian context. In order to provide myself with the relevant literature I will use University library and its electronic recourses, other internet recourses and local library in Brčko.

Secondly, from internet and local media I will collect relevant articles and media content and connect it with theories. I believe that this methodology will help me to answer research questions. Since the media in Bosnia is also ethnically and politically divided I will collect information from media from all three sides.

In every day politics local politicians are arguing that Brčko as a local community has done the most in terms of peace building in Bosnia, still the situation in the field is different. Politics in Brčko is ethnically divided; almost all political parties are ethnically colored and oriented and are

counting on votes from their ethnical group. In the latter text I will give examples from the interviews where local political elites discuss ethnical relations in Bosnia, give their views on them belonging to Bosnian state and how they believe the life of ethnicities should function. In this research I will analyze values and concepts presented from the local political elites and its influence on citizens of Brčko.

1.3. a Data collection

In order to enquire relevant information in terms of ethnic conflict theories and comparing different experiences, theories and countries I have used the Dalarna University Library and town Library in Brčko. Those two sources have provided me with enough relevant literature to gain enough insight in theoretical accomplishments concerning the topic of research.

In order to gain insight into currant politics in Bosnia I will use local electronic and printed media and books relevant to the topic. In order to find out more about current political systems I have used Dalarna University Library, the town library in Brčko and other internet recourses, like relevant scholarly journals that cover the topic of social relations and politics.

1.3.b Disposition of the paper

This research paper contains five separate parts. It starts with the introductory part which contains introduction to the issue area, research aim and questions and the methodology used for this research. It is then followed by theoretical part where I have selected scientific theories relevant for this study that will help me answer the research questions, then analysis and reflection of the findings and the conclusion.

2. Theoretical perspectives

2.1. Defining ethnicity

There are several different definitions of ethnicity and nation since scholars could not yet agree about one definition of ethnicity. Donald Horowitz (1998) gave two views of ethnicity. 10

The first one says: …ethnic groups are ascriptive, firmly bounded entities that are based on a strong sense of commonality, engender considerable loyalty, persist over time, provide large affective rewards to group members, incline toward ethnocentrism, are hostile to and desire to dominate outsiders, are liable to pursue conflict behavior based on passion (even to the exclusion of calculation), and engender a great willingness on the part of group members to sacrifice for collective welfare (Horowitz, 1998:2).

I believe that this definition is applicable to Bosnian case since for example, in the ethnical sense; one could argue that people are more bounded to their ethnicity then to Bosnia and Herzegovina as a state which I believe is thought behavior promoted through political elites in Bosnia, especially amongst people of Croat and Serb ethnicity. This definition is based on passion and loyalty to ethnical group one belongs to. Second definition is based more on interest of members of certain ethnic group. In other words people will defend their group if they can gain something from it. It says: ethnic groups are entities whose boundaries are problematic and malleable whose solidarity is based on the material rewards they provide their members rather than on diffuse affection; whose behavior, based on the interests of their members, is vulnerable to strategic manipulation; whose apparent affect can often be reduced to calculation; and whose severe conflicts with others often result less from irreconcilable objectives than from strategic dilemmas (Horowitz, 1998:2).

In the first definition we see certain amount of traditionalism in terms of that the roots of belonging to one ethnicity go back certain amount of time which we cannot see in the second definition. In terms of traditionalism Horowitz (1998) mentioned that few scholars believe that ancient hatreds between groups produce conflict (Horowitz, 1998:2). He also argues that Groups in conflict usually know each other rather well, and they do not like what they have experienced of each other, or they fear the traits and ambitions of other groups that threaten them(Horowitz, 1998:6). This phenomenon is easily applicable to Bosnian case. It assumes awakening of trauma and evoking past conflicts, in other words producing fear of the “other”. Scarritt (2014) argues that ethnical identities are constructed when people self-consciously distinguish themselves from other based on common descent, cultural attributes, values, goals, believes, and language (Chandra, 2012 in Scarritt, 2014:105). Scarrit (2014) goes further and makes a link between ethnicity and politics and calls this phenomenon ethno politics (Scarritt, 2014:105)

2.2. Defining ethnic conflict

Defining ethnic conflict, just like defining ethnicity, is a hard journey. First of all it is needed to define if one conflict is in fact because of ethnicity or is it driven by some other motives, for example: economy. Cardell and Wollf (forth coming) argue that conflict describes a situation in which two or more actors pursue incompatible, yet from their individual perspectives entirely just goals. Ethnic conflicts are one particular form of such conflict: that in which the goals of at least one conflict party are defined in (exclusively) ethnic terms, and in which the primary fault line of confrontation is one of ethnic distinctions(Cardell and Wollf, forth coming).

In terms of ex-Yugoslavia good example for this could be the beginning of 80s and the struggle of Albanians from Kosovo against the Yugoslav state in order to maintain their right to go to Albanian schools and learn their language which was at that stage prohibited by Serbia. Here we have one ethnicity (Albanians from Kosovo) being in conflict against the state (Yugoslavia). Goal of Albanian people from Kosovo was to separate themselves from Serbia and become a 7th republic in Ex-Yugoslavia, but the demonstrations were crushed by the Yugoslav military. Here we can see that one ethnicity; in this case Albanians from Kosovo felt discriminated from Yugoslav government (more specifically Serbia) and wanted to strengthen their position by having their own Republic, but on the other side Serbian government argued that Albanians wanted to separate themselves from Yugoslavia and connect themselves with Albania. Another definition of ethnic conflict was given by Sambanis (2001): ethnic war is war among communities (ethnicities) that are in conflict over the power relationship that exists between those communities and the state’ (Sambanis, 2001: 261).

3. Empirical observations

3.1. Mainstream political discourse in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Currant politics in Bosnia and Herzegovina is mostly based on protecting ethnic interest and present “the other” as a treat to “our” interests. Politicians from Serb Republic have threatened several times with referendums about dividing Serb Republic from Bosnia and Herzegovina if their interests are not followed. Recreantly, they have threatened with a referendum about the recognition of state court, because they feel that it does not protect interest of Serbs in Bosnia1. Each time they threaten with referendum they do not have to

1 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33550137

wait for an answer for a long time, even from Croatia. “Mesic has warned that if Dodik announces a referendum on secession– as the first step toward the Republika Srpska‟ unification with Serbia to form a „Great Serbia‟– he would send the Croatian Army south across the River Sava to cut in half the Bosnian Serb entity, which would then have to disappear‟. (Stjepan Mesić - former Croatian president)2

This is a clear war massage from the former Croatian president Stjepan Mesić. The place he would “cut in half the Bosnian Serb entity” is Brčko since the Serb Republic is thinnest there.

The president of the Serb Republic, Milorad Dodik, has on several occasions stressed that Bosnia as a country cannot remain and that it will be split on the Entity lines, which again describes his goals to separate Serb Republic from Bosnia and connect it eventually with Serbia.

The only reason why Bosnia-Herzegovina did not end up the same as former Yugoslavia, which dissolved in the first half of1990s is because the international factor still insists on irrational thesis that it would be possible to preserve something they used to call Yugoslavia in miniature, although they have failed to preserve the larger Yugoslavia," (Milorad Dodik –President of Serb Republic)3

This political discourse is feeding the fears and animosities amongst ethnicities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and contributes to growing nationalism amongst citizens. I have already discussed that different aspects can cause ethnic conflicts; here we have political elites in fight for power. As Horowitz (1998) mentioned other theorists argue explicitly that elite competition and the actions of “ethnic entrepreneurs” drive ethnic conflict (Brass 1985, 1996, 1997; Vail 1991: 11; Kasfir 1979). Elites manipulate ethnic identities in their quest for power.It is they who “construct” ethnic conflict (Brass 1997:26 in Horowitz 1998:9).

It is the clear quest for power, defending their wealth. The analysis of their political campaigns will show nothing else, only proof of how “the others” are a threat. No economical or infrastructural programs that would improve the living conditions of Bosnian citizens are offered by the political elites.

3.2. Education as a security issue in Bosnia and Herzegovina

2 https://greatersurbiton.wordpress.com/2010/01/29/croatia-must-defend-bosnia-so-should-serbia 3http://www rferl org/content/interview milorad dodik bosnia republika srpska politics/24360012.html).

Educational reforms have never been implemented in Bosnia until today, especially not by EU standards. In currant Bosnia and Herzegovina we have three curriculums that are implemented in Bosnian school: Bosnian, Croatian and Serb curriculum. In practice that means that children of different ethnicities learn according to different curriculum. In other words children are segregated in schools according to their ethnicity. Best example for segregation in Bosnian education is a phenomenon called “Two schools under one roof”. It practically means that students of different ethnicities go to the same schools (in terms of building), but are divided in the sense of schools administration and curriculum. This phenomenon is always present in Bosnian and Croats parts of Country. There are currently 52 schools functioning by this principle in Bosnia today, mainly in Central and Southern Bosnia. In Brčko students go to same schools, all ethnicities are together in one class but are separated during “National group of subjects”. “National group of subjects” includes: Geography, Mother Language, Religion teaching and History. These are the classes where children are separated according to their ethnicity and religion which is a clear form of segregation. Several studies have shown that the content of lessons children learn during the “National group of subjects” are different and that values and concepts presented serve to support ethnical segregation in Bosnia and, one could argue, make a new conflict possible.

Torsti (2009) argued that the most interesting finding during the research of Bosnian education was the “us-them” terminology where the stereotypical and hostile arguments about other nationalities in Bosnia where typical (Torsti, 2009:68). It is interesting that, Entity Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is divided in 10 cantons (most Bosnian majority, but some also Croat majority) and that Cantons are in charge of education, so State level or Entity level have very little influence on it. This again shows ethnical domination in politics even in the education sector.

4. Analysis and reflection

We can see from the empirical evidence that today, even almost 20 years after the war in Bosnia has ended, mainstream politics are advocating for ethnical segregation in all segments of society. While offering no concrete plans for economical recovery of Country they remain in power by presenting the „others“ as an enemy and presenting themselves as protectors of national interests. Still, Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the poorest countries in Europe. According to the Federal

Office of Statistics currant unemployment rate in Bosnia is 43, 2 %(July. 2015). It is also important to mention here that in Bosnia lots people work in the grey economy and that is why it is very hard to calculate the exact numbers of unemployed people.

4.1. Ethno politics in Bosnia and Herzegovina

As already mentioned politics in Bosnia is mostly based around protecting the interest of one ethnicity and most political parties are ethnically colored. The main aim of politicians is to keep members of different ethnic groups away from each other as much as possible while presenting “the others” as enemies. In that sense the political parties (most of them) can be easily categorized as ethno political associations since the members of these political parties are mostly mono ethnic and the goals (officially) are to protect the interests of their ethnicity. Although, they do cooperate on some levels, it seems they are constantly in some form of conflict. Scarritt (2014) argues that cooperation amongst ethnicities is easier when disadvantages or advantages are smaller and that disadvantages or advantages can be on economic, cultural and political (Scaritt. 2014:112). This part is especially interesting in terms of ethno political situation in Brčko, since on several occasions the Brčko district parliament has discusses the issue of how many people of each ethnicity are employed in Governmental institutions. They still have not solved this issue. It could be seen as a struggle for domination of one ethnicity towards other two. After the war lots of different ethnic and religious organizations have been formed in Brčko, while organizations that are not ethnically colored do not receive enough support from Government. Most of them are officially NGOs, but still, they are funded by the Government. Since these organizations are mono ethnic they can easily serve for propaganda services and mobilization of different ethnicities. As Scarritt (2014) said mobilization of ethnic associations is part of politicization of ethnic identities, which then leads to ethno political mobilization through political parties (Scarritt, 2014:114). It can be argued that in eventual conflict these NGOs and associations could be a point of mobilization of people of different ethnicities.

4.2. Segregation in Bosnian society through education

Education in Bosnia is a special play ground for ethno politics and political elites in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is deeply segregated through two different phenomena. First one is called “Two schools under one roof” and the second one “National group of subjects”, both supported by the international community. Generally, there are 3 different curriculums that are used in Bosnian schools: Bosnian, Croat and Serb (Radušić, 2009:2).

“Two schools under one roof” is a project started in 1997 which led to division of Bosnian and Croat students in school that are in the same building, but with separate administration and teachers. One ethnicity is attending school in the left side of the building and the other on the right side and the school yards are split with barbed wire. Currently there are 52 schools functioning this way.

“National group of subjects” includes Geography, History, Religious teaching and History. This system allows student to go to the same school, attend all other subjects together, but segregates students during these subject, which is, some would argue better then the system “Two schools under one roof”, but still it is segregation. This system currently used in Brčko.

Education in Bosnia is not under the rule of state level, but it is ruled by Serb Republic Government and Cantons in Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina which all have different majorities in terms of ethnicity in them and use the school curriculum according to which ethnicity has majority in that canton. This phenomenon was researched by several authors. Radušić (2009) argued that education in divided societies can be an integrating or disintegrating factor in society (Radušić, 2009:1). These two phenomena mentioned above surly proof that Bosnian education is a disintegrating factor of Bosnian society. Swimmelar (2013) argues that education and conflict go hand in hand. Education can be a tool in the hands of nationalists of multiple stripes to foment inter-ethnic tension and violence (e.g. 1990s Yugoslavia and Rwanda) or to forge a collective national identity(e.g. Tito’s Yugoslavia, nineteenth century France). (Swimelar, 2013:165).

Analyzing, for example, history textbooks from elementary schools from the Serb and Bosnian curriculum we can read many discrepancies in describing different historical events. One of many examples was the assassination of Arch-duke Franz Ferdinand and his wife by Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina) on 28.06.1914 which is generally considered to be the start of World War I. According to the Serb textbook from the 9th grade of primary schools Gavrilo Princip was a Yugoslav nationalist who was a member of secret organization “Mlada Bosna (Young Bosnia)” and fought for the unification of South Slavic countries (Pejić, Tešić &

Gavrić: 2011). According to the Bosnian history textbook for the 9th grade Gavrilo Princip was a Serb nationalist and “Mlada Bosna (Young Bosnia)” was an organization supported from Serbia (Šabotić & Čehajić: 2012). This historical event is only one of the many discrepancies presented in the history textbooks in Bosnian primary schools. This supports the thesis that ethno politics in Bosnia is on the run working with all its to capacity to support and produce ethnic tensions and arguably make a ground for new conflict, even armed conflict.

5. Conclusion

Reading the Dayton Peace Agreement we can see that other parts of Bosnia remained mostly mono ethnic and where established by the army borders. Brčko District remained the only multiethnic community in Bosnia after the war, separating the Country in two mono ethnic entities and not in economic regions. International community and local stake holders have also divided people ethnically and made it hard for them to communicate and establish positive contacts. Brčko should be a positive example showing that it is possible to live with each other, but still, as Varshney (2009) argued politicians are using ethnicities to remain in political power since they did not offer citizens anything else. Reading interviews with local politicians we can see that they still accuse each other not only for war crimes and similar, but also for corruption and organized criminal. One could argue that they deliberately continue with nationalistic discourse in order to keep the status quo amongst the citizens.

On a daily basis we can see and hear political hate speech towards the “other” accusing each other for war crimes and corruption. Amongst Serb politicians the hatred and not acceptance of Bosnian state dominates the political discourse promoting Serbia as Serb homeland. In one of his interviews Miorad Dodik said: “Bosnia is a rotten country, it does not deserve to exist, that's clear,”(Milorad Dodik – election campaign). Pronouncing himself as a leader of Serbs in Bosnia he is sending a clear message to Serbs in Bosnia how they should see Bosnia and Herzegovina as a state. Since Bosnians feel patriotic to Bosnia and Herzegovina it is also clear sign to Bosnians to react to this kind of speech, if that lasts not even armed conflict can be excluded. Several times politicians from the Serb Republic have threaten with a referendum about dividing the Serb Republic from Bosnia which is an instrument for stopping all reforms under the argument of endangering Serbs in Bosnia and their national interest. As Horowitz (1998) argues ethnicities have strong sense of ethnocentrism, are hostile to and desire to

dominate outsiders, are liable to pursue conflict behavior based on passionHorowitz (1998:2).

Using this politics in Bosnia manipulate feelings amongst citizens, grow their fears from the others and exactly what Milorad Dodik’s aim with this political discourse is.

As already mentioned Moor (2007) gave three reasons why project Brčko would fail. One of them is: Veto provisions into the Assembly voting procedures based on ethnicity (Moore, 2007). This practically means that representatives of each nationality can put veto on any decisions assembly makes. This clearly shows that politics is ethnically colored and it makes it legally possible for politicians to stop any kind of progress if it does not suit their interest under the cover of protecting national interests.

As we can see from this research there are several different instruments used by politicians to maintain ethnic segregation in Bosnia. Other then hate speech in the media mentioned above, there is segregated education, forming NGOs that are mono ethnic and using the religious communities as a tool for promoting the their interest. All three religious (Serb Orthodox Church, Islamic Community and Catholic Church) institutions are heavily involved in ethno politics in Bosnia. Religious institutions mostly use historical myths to mobilize ethnic communities. For example: Serbian Orthodox Church is mostly using the Battle for Kosovo for presenting the Serbs as border of defending Christianity from Islam since they have fought Ottomans there. On the other hand Islamic Community in Bosnia presents the Ottomans as someone who brought Islam to Bosnia and show Ottomans in mostly good light.

Taking into consideration political discourse in Bosnia in Herzegovina that is, in terms of ethnic relations, nationalistically colored and from there it goes to all parts of society (as argued in this research also into education system). We can see that belonging to one ethnicity is still being promoted by local stakeholder and being a citizen is being undermined. They are using it as a tool for manipulation and remaining in power. We can see from the data in this research that the politicians from the Serb republic are promoting belonging of the Serbs to Serb republic and not to Bosnian state which could be an instrument for pushing Serbs into another war. Educational factor with the “Two schools under one roof” and “National group of subject” system is just adding fuel to ethnic segregation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Brčko. European Union will not take a country divided in many aspects, but only one economy and one government that decide as one. Globalized economy will break a country Bosnia and Herzegovina divided on uneconomical rules.

 Bosnia's Serbs vote for referendum on national court (2015) BBC. Retrieved from: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33550137

 Bryman A, (2004), Social Research Methods, Oxford University Press Inc. New York

 Cordell K. & Wolff S. (forthcoming), Ethnic Conflict: Causes, Consequences, and Responses, Cambridge: Polity. Department of Geography UCLA

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