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 br