Digital Commons Network^™

Framing And Agenda Setting Of The Day Of Republika Srpska And Its 2016 Referendum, Nađa Beglerović, Matthew T. Becker

Faculty and Student Publications

The purpose of this article is to explore broadsheet newspaper framing and agenda- setting of two events using the five- frame model developed by Semetko and Valkenburg (2000). This article provides insight into how the leading broadsheet newspaper within BiH’s Republika Srpska frames relationships between the three main ethnic groups and is the first such study to occur in BiH. By identifying and exploring the most common frames in Glas Srpske during the five -year period (from 31 December 2015 to 30 December 2020), the research is meant to answer the following research questions: How does Glas Srpske frame the …

Memorialization Of Children In War In Serbia, Bosnia And Herzegovina, And Kosovo, Ana Gvozdic

International Studies Honors Projects

Can remembering the tragic fate of children in war help overcome the divisive narratives of the past in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo? This paper addresses this question by examining efforts to commemorate children in war in these countries through monuments, exhibitions, and other creative formats, including a video and a theatrical performance. Based on in-depth, qualitative interviews with civil society representatives behind these initiatives, and those familiar with them, I argue that efforts to commemorate children in war can both consolidate and challenge divisive victimization narratives. When memorialization efforts go beyond victimization, their emphasis on children in war …

Socializing With The Out-Group: Testing The Contact Hypothesis Among School Students In Bosnia And Herzegovina, Matthew Thomas Becker

Faculty and Student Publications

The purpose of this article is to test the contact hypothesis among self-identifying Bosniak, Croat, Serb, and Bosnian high school seniors in Bosnia and Herzegovina, using the Other-Group Orientation Scale (Roberts et al., 1999). This article finds that attending a ‘non-appropriate’ ethnic school statistically increases tolerance of out-group members, which conforms to the predictions of the contact hypothesis, originally put forth by Allport (1958). This field research also found that secondary schools are largely homogenous in the country, thus preventing high levels of cross-ethnic contact in schools, which was expected. This article represents the first post-war, countrywide quantitative testing of …

How Do Schools Affect Ethnic Saliency Levels Of Students In Bosnia And Herzegovina, Matthew Thomas Becker

Faculty and Student Publications

This article measures the role of schools in the ethnic socialization and identity formation processes of high school seniors in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) via ordinary least squares regression analysis and attempts to contribute to a better understanding of educational transitions in the postsocialist space and youth identity formation in a postconflict society. BiH has three ethnonational curricula (Bosniak, Croat, and Serb), each with an ethnocentric focus. Although nationality and school curricula are highly correlated in BiH, in the case of the Serbs, it was found that students who do not study the “appropriate” Serbian curriculum experienced a statistically significant …

Nationalism As A Process For Making The Desired Identity Salient: Bosnian Muslims Become Bosniaks, Mirsad Krijestorac

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study is concerned with the particular relationship between the process of nationalism and a group’s salient identity. It proposes that nationalism as the independent variable serves as a principal factor and facilitator for a change of identity, which is seen as the dependent variable. The Bosnian Muslim emergence as an independent nation with the new salient Bosniak identity was used as a case study to test the main proposition.

The inquiry was completed through a mixed research method, using grounded theory and the historic process tracing technique, a large survey analysis collected specifically for this study, and a logistic …

On Multiethnic Schools In Consociational Democracies: A Comparative Analysis Of Brčko District And Bosnia-Herzegovina, Jusuf Šarančić

Lawrence University Honors Projects

The 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement both ended the Bosnian War and created the consociational democracy that exists in Bosnia and Herzegovina to this day. The ethnic autonomy created by the Dayton Agreement has resulted in a frozen conflict between ethnic groups that has manifested itself in the country’s monoethnic education system. This study explores the short-term stability under consociationalism and the long-term stability under a multiethnic education system. Additionally, this study explains the importance of the country’s only multiethnic education system in Brčko District and how it came into existence.

Unequal Democracy: The Political Position Of Croats In Bosnia And Herzegovina, Valentino Grbavac

Political Science Honors Projects

Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina have been marginalized during the last 15 years. Bosniaks have elected a Croat member of the Presidency and formed a federal government twice without legitimate Croat support, completely ignoring Croat electoral will. Bosnia and Herzegovina is at a crossroads today, choosing between the potential for a prosperous future in the EU and the status quo. Reforms of government structures are necessary in order to solve the Croat issue and allow Bosnia and Herzegovina to ascend to the EU. In this paper I map out the history of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina since the 1990s …

The Beauty And The Beast: Civil Society And Nationalisms In Bosnia And Herzegovina, Joan Davison

Faculty Publications

Both ethnic nationalism and liberal civic nationalism exist with historical precedents in Bosnia­Herzegovina. Many elected elites privilege extremist ethnic nationalism. The power-sharing structure of the Dayton Peace Accords institutionalizes their influence and permits the current political stalemate. Further, a legacy of authoritarianism vitiates a political culture supportive of elite accountability and mass responsibility. Yet a nascent civil society witnesses to the past and potential future of liberal cosmopolitanism. This research includes interviews with leaders and members of civil society organizations to assess the impediments to and strength of civil society as a vehicle to promote civic nationalism. While interviewees acknowledge …

Mine Action And Development: Why Should We Become Mad About It?, Humanity And Inclusion

Global CWD Repository

There is no right way or wrong way to use this position paper. It sets out the background and reasoning about the advantages of linking mine action and development that led to the four-year pilot project in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and goes into detail on some of the sources of information that were used in the development of the concepts behind the pilot project.

Report On Mineburner System Used And Trialled By Handicap International In Bosnia And Herzegovina In 2008, P. Mccullough

Global CWD Repository

The aim of this report is to:

• Report on MineBurner training for HI staff.

• Show cost comparison between MineBurner and sub-contracted demolitions

• Document all operational uses of MineBurner during the reporting period.

• List observations and make recommendations.

Mine Action Strategy (2009-2019) - Bosnia And Herzegovina, Gichd

Global CWD Repository

On December 3rd 1997, Bosnia and Herzegovina signed the Convention banning the production, use, stockpiling and transport of AP mines. The Convention also contains obligation to clear all known mined areas by March 2009. Accordingly, the Council of Ministers on 28 November 2006 made a decision to start the evaluation process of the existing Mine Action Strategy for the period 2005-2009, as well as the preparation of new strategic document for the period 2009-2019. This second document would provide the basis for an extension of the Convention deadline for total removal of mines.

In accordance with the evaluation of current …

Bosnia And Herzegovina's Foreign Policy: A Multi-Level Game, Joan Davison

Faculty Publications

Bosnia and Herzegovina's foreign policy is extraordinarily complex and a source of both contention and opportunity. The government negotiates policy with the Office of the High Representative, the EU, its Balkan neighbors, its parliamentary parties, its entities and its ethnic groups. All actors perceive EU integration as essential to future stability and development but the constitutional reform necessary for membership creates conflict. European integration runs contrary to ethnic segregation. Economic interests collide with nationalist sentiments founded in the very real wars and atrocities of the past decades. The prerequisite of reform prior to accession talks delays B&H's membership in the …

Mid-Term Review Of The Undp Integrated Mine Action Programme (Imap), Gichd

Global CWD Repository

The break-up of Yugoslavia led to the 1992-1995 Bosnian war, which resulted in more than 200,000 deaths, massive displacement, and widespread landmine contamination. There was no clear victor in the conflict, and the General Framework Agreement for Peace (GFAP) established a loose confederal structure, with a weak central government (the State), two Entities (the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska or RS) and, within the Federation, ten cantons (each with its own constitution). Because of the danger of renewed conflict, NATO fielded an Implementation Force (IFOR) to enforce the military provisions of the GFAP, while the broader international community …

Risk Management In Mine Action Planning, Lisica Darwin

Global CWD Repository

Examines Risk Management in BiH's mine action planning (which has been underpinned by principle of integration with development). Includes discussion of process of mine action integration into BiH's PRSP process, e.g. see page 14.

Mine Detections Dogs: Operations - Case Studies Of Operational Systems, Gichd

Global CWD Repository

The study is laid out as four case studies of five organisations (two organisations in Croatia are described in one case study). A commentary is included in each case study as a discussion, and summarising comments are made in the final chapter. Readers will recognise that each case study is essentially a snapshot of the operational structure of the organisation at the time that the study was done. Each study took about a month to complete (including report writing) and seasonal and other limitations meant that it took several years to complete the series of studies. In each case, the …

Moderating Politics In Post-Conflict States: An Examination Of Bosnia And Herzegovina, Angela M. Banks

Faculty Publications

The individuals who negotiated the peace agreement that ended the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina considered ethnicity to be the most salient division within Bosnian society. Consequently they organized Bosnia's political structure around ethnic representation. While it is doubtful that peace in Bosnia would have been possible without guarantees for ethnic-based political representation, such guarantees have proven insufficient for building a functioning, stable, and cohesive state. This article analyzes the role that Bosnia's political framework, which focuses exclusively on ethnic representation, has played in impeding the development of a significant cadre of moderate political actors and in hindering the success …

Training Of Mine Detection Dogs In Bosnia And Herzegovina (Npa Global Training Centre), Gichd

Global CWD Repository

This case study describes the mine detection dog (MDD) training programme used by Norwegian People's Aid (NPA) in its Global Training Centre (GTC) in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is not a training manual, its aim is to promote the dissemination of information about successful programmes to the larger MDD community and to encourage evolution of methodologies by providing an example of one particularly successful method among the many MDD training programmes.

A Risk Strategy For Mine Action, Julian Williams

Global CWD Repository

A generic risk management methodology has been derived, and aspects of it were used to develop risk management strategies for Cambodia and Bosnia. These countries presented different problems and so required very different approaches. In Cambodia, the available resources are wholly inadequate to remove the risk from landmines in the medium-term. Moreover, the mine treatment options that might be practicable, even if they were available, are limited, because of the poor infrastructure and type of terrain where they would be applied. Nevertheless, there is some scope for using risk assessment to identify where the practicable mine treatment options (mainly manual …

Vapour Sensing Using Dogs In Bosnia: A Test Of Detection Capacity, Rune Fjellanger, Ian Mclean, Havard Bach

Global CWD Repository

We report results of a pilot study designed to investigate the possibility that REST (Remote Explosive Scent Tracing) technology could be used to find mines in Bosnia. The find rate for mines on 88 filers was 68%. Detection success was linked to humidity and temperature at the time of sampling, and to location within Bosnia. Detection success was not linked to when the filter passed across the mine during the sampling period, or how long the filter was held over the mine. Two mines were found at similar rates (PMA3, TMA4). Success was lower for a third type (TMM1) but …

Rest In Bosnia: A Pilot Test Of Detection Capability, Rune Fjellanger, Ian Mclean, H. Bach

Global CWD Repository

The following report discusses the results of a pilot study designed to investigate the possibility that Remote Explosive Scent Tracing (REST) technology can be used for area reduction in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Evaluation Of The Unicef Mine Risk Education Programme In Bosnia Herzegovina 2007, Russell Gasser, Almedina Music

Global CWD Repository

Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is heavily contaminated with landmines and other explosive remnants of war (ERW). There are also significant problems with small arms and light weapons (SALW), both in terms of vast unused stockpiles of weapons, ammunition and explosives - some of which is in very poor condition - and also illegal weapons ownership by an estimated 16% of the total population. A Landmine Impact Survey (LIS) in 2002-2003 revealed that about 4% of the land area and over 1300 communities were affected by mines and UXO. Clearance has been coordinated by the BiH Mine Action Centre (BHMAC) and …

Evaluation Of The Netherland's Financial Assistance For Humanitarian Demining Activities In 1996-2006 Bosnia Herzegovina, Russell Gasser, Jacqueline Dees, Ferko Ory

Global CWD Repository

This report presents the findings of the evaluation mission conducted from 14-29 June 2007. Meetings were held with key stakeholders and field visits were made throughout the territory of BiH. Because the bulk of the Dutch money went to capacity-building, the evaluation team visitied six of the regional offices of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Mine Action Centre (BHMAC) and meetings were held with the local staff. Additionally the team visited 5 sites cleared with Dutch money because, although clearance was only a minor part in the total funding of Humanitarian Mine Action in BiH.