The survival paradox: Can a culture survive the political transgressions of post-war democratisation?

Abstract

This study examines Bosnia and Herzegovina as a culture of survival. It posits that the three dominant ethno-national groups in Bosnia (Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats) share a common syncretic culture as evidenced by common aspects of social organisation, models of cultural adaptation and production, and ideological dynamics among the three groups.

The study identifies three distinct cross-ethnic patterns that have dominated Bosnia’s post-war development: 1) socially narcissistic and self-victimising cultural behaviours, which favour constant reinterpretation of historical events to inform and promote antagonistic political and identity narratives; 2) the religious revival and the return of social conservatism to fill the vacuum left by the abrupt departure of socialism as the last culturally compatible system of ideological cohesion, collectivist morality and communal care; and 3) the failure of ideas in facilitating the emergence of an inclusive and culturally compatible narrative of belonging for all three ethno-national groups.

Questioning the global narrative of transition to democracy, the absence of women in ethnonational programs and Western normative universalism, the study argues that Bosnia and Herzegovina requires more effective theoretical and political approaches to post-war transition and democratisation than those applied by the international community in Bosnia and Herzegovina over the past twenty-five years.