Daring ‘life‐return projects’ to post‐Dayton Bosnia and Herzegovina

This article discusses the prospects for realization of rights‐based return against the backdrop of a twenty years‐long (inter)nationally managed return process to post‐Dayton Bosnia and Herzegovina. It draws on 42 in‐depth interviews with two different waves of returnees: early assisted returns (1997‐2005), and later self‐organised returns (2005‐2013). Our findings show that realization of return implicates the courageous well‐planned and self‐orchestrated life return projects, closely inter‐linked with the construction of the complex micro‐social structures buffering against the unpredictable macro‐social context of post‐Dayton BiH. Instead of being propelled by formal and assisted return programmes, it is rather the intricate relational practices with space(s) and people – continuously investing in the multisite local and transnational social networks, and flexible mobility and settlement patterns ‐ shaped by social agency of the returnees that lead to realization of the return projects.     

(Un)doing feminism in (post)-Yugoslav media spaces

This paper engages in a mixed-method study combining the bibliographic method, textual media analysis of women’s magazines from different periods during and after Yugoslav socialism, and qualitative focus group interviews to map out the complex trajectories of feminism spanning a period of forty-something years. Its goal is to see how socialist and post-socialist media representations of women’s experiences correspond with feminist or post-feminist values in the former Yugoslavia and today. Engaging in a genealogical exercise and critical reading of the sources of data listed above, I aim to mark out some of the differences between the contexts of then and now, in order to make it more possible to reassess the potential for rethinking feminism as emancipatory politics in the present.     

Roman emperors and identity constructions in modern Serbia

Drawing from the constructivist approach to heritage that defines it as a reflection of contemporary social circumstances, we attempt to outline the key agencies and processes shaping the reception of the Roman heritage in contemporary Serbia. Our case study points to the process of creation of the main narrative of Roman heritage in the country as Serbia – homeland of the Roman Emperors and to its role in the construction and promotion of social ideologies and identities. Analysis of the increasing popularisation of the legacy of the Roman past in public discourse presents considerable opportunities for questioning the social reality reflected by the reception of Roman heritage in Serbian context.     

Migration,Precarization and the Democratic Deficit in Global Governance

This article attempts to provide a critical understanding of the dual signification of “precarity”. It explores what “precarity” as a concept may potentially offer to studies of the changing contemporary political economy of migration. It discusses shifting trends in global migration and point to tendencies for a possible convergence between “South” and “North”, “East” and “West”. Based on a review of current advances in research, it discusses, with reference to the classical work of Karl Polanyi, the potential for a contemporary “countermovement” which would challenge the precarity of migrants. Bringing forward the issue of the “space for civil society” the article addresses a still lingering democratic deficit in the global governance of migration.

Policy Implications

The article is relevant to policymakers, trade unions and civil society organizations. It contributes to the understanding of policy making processes in emerging multilevel global governance and focuses on issues of precarization, migration, and the implementation and accountability of human, migrant and labour rights.     

Writing After the Genocide: Lessons from Srebrenica and the Meaning of Community After Violence

Abstract

This essay explores four themes that run as a thread through recent writings about the genocide in Srebrenica and its aftermath: systemic and premeditated character of violence used by the Bosnian Serb forces during the war, which still echoes in politics of Republic Srpska; delicate politics of witnessing and identification which draws Srebrenica's survivors into the courts but also into the past; layered yet often self-serving interests circling around Srebrenica and annual commemorations in Poto?ari; and changing, multiple and, at times, conflicting understandings of “community” since the war. The essay draws on four books—Sarah Wagner's To Know Where He Lies, Hariz Halilovich's Places of Pain, Robert Donia's Radovan Karad?i?: Architect of the Bosnian Genocide, and Lara Nettelfield and Sarah Wagner's Srebrenica in the Aftermath of Genocide.     

US Neoconservative Support and Policy Activism for Bosnia, 1992–1995: Correcting the Record

Abstract

The aim of this article is to trace neoconservative thought in the US and policy activism on the role of the US in Bosnia during the 1992–1995 genocide. This paper argues that, on the issue of intervention in Bosnia, neoconservatives in the US comprised two camps. Neoconservative former government officials were early and consistent advocates of an assertive US intervention in Bosnia. However, the neoconservative academics were a heterogeneous group divided over the question of US intervention. Yet, both the former government officials and several academics came together in supporting President Bill Clinton's decision to deploy US troops to enforce the Dayton Peace Accords. While sharply criticized in the Muslim world for their Middle East policies, neoconservative advocacy for Bosnia and Bosnian Muslims during 1992–1995 has been largely overlooked. Analysing neoconservatives’ activism on Bosnia provides for a more nuanced understanding of the US neoconservative foreign policy legacy.     

Commemorating Srebrenica: Introduction to the Special Issue

Abstract

The aim of this Special Issue is to commemorate the genocide victims in Bosnia on the occasion of 20th anniversary of the capture of UN safe area of Srebrenica in July 1995. Recognized as the worst atrocity in Europe since 1945, the horrors of Srebrenica reverberate far beyond Bosnia with commemorations held across the globe from Canada to Australia. While there has been a growing literature on this subject over the last two decades, this Special Issue seeks to make a scholarly contribution to the study of genocide by bringing together works on understudied aspects of this period in Bosnian and European history.