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When structural factors that cause interethnic violence work in favour of peace: The story of Baljvine, a warless Bosnian-Herzegovinian peace mosaic

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Abstract

In this paper, we analyse the dynamics of interethnic relations in Baljvine, a village in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), where local Bosniaks and Serbs did not resort to interethnic violence that otherwise marked most of BiH during the last war. Drawing on structural factors that shed light on the dynamics of relations in post-conflict societies where interethnic violence occurred, the aim is to explain why and how bloodshed was prevented in Baljvine during the last war. To achieve this, we employ a multi-method research approach, combining qualitative observation with participation and interviews with the villagers. The results show that intersubjective motivations and a set of smaller coincidences in Baljvine affected structural factors and resulted in avoidance of interethnic violence. This enabled us to coin the concept of “peace mosaic” to demonstrate how several smaller pieces have to align in a community to allow it to remain peaceful. The key contribution is in advancing the argument that the structural factors that explain interethnic violence can also work in favour of peace.

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The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author.

Notes

  1. A contemporary instance of such a trajectory can be illustrated by the case of the Russian Federation’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine. This event not only captured the attention of IR scholars, as highlighted by Burlyuk and Musliu (2023), but also spurred an extraordinary surge in military budgets worldwide. The latter was further underscored by the 2023 report issued by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which showed that world military expenditure rose by 3.7% in real terms in 2022, to reach a record high of 2240 billion USD.

  2. Republika Srpska is one of the two (semi-) autonomous entities in BiH, populated mostly by Bosnian Serbs.

  3. Armakolas (2012), focusing on wartime city of Tuzla, showed how new political structures, legacies of the past, pre-existing institutions, networds and creative policymaking were used for both fostering and defusing the conflict.

  4. Moore (2013), focusing on post-war Mostar and Brčko, highlighted how the design of political institutions, the sequencing of political and economic reforms, local and regional legacies from the war, and the practice and organization of international peacebuilding efforts, overcome divisions that continue to stymie the postwar peace process in BiH.

  5. While Saulich and Werthes (2018) define such places as non-war communities, Kaldor (1999) calls them ”islands of civility”. Autesserre (2014), for example, coined such places as ”peace islands” or ”islands of peace”. Stemming from this, we define Baljvine as ”village of peace”.

  6. In 2003, the archaeological site of 'stećci' (monumental tombstones) in Baljvine – dating back to medieval times – was designated as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Commission to Preserve National Monument, 2003).

  7. In September 2022, we talked to Prof. Dr. Husnija Kamberović and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Max Bergholz in order to obtain relevant literature on happenings in Bosanska Krajina region during WWII. Based on their recommendations, we contacted Mr. Dino Dupanović, a local archivist at the Museum of Una-Sana Canton in Bihać, and Mr. Vladan Vukliš, assistant director of the Arhiv Republike Srpske in Banja Luka. Wealso talked to David Humar, brigadier of the Slovenian Armed Forces, with whom we discussed the doctrine and operational level of the Yugoslav People’s Army, based on which the Army of RS functioned during the Bosnian war.

  8. In April 2022, we conducted interviews with three (older) inhabitants of Baljvine who lived in the village during the Bosnian war. One of them was also a member of the 'interethnic commission', which outlined everyday life in Baljvine amidst the presence of the Republika Srpska army in the village.

  9. In December 2022 and January 2023, we exchanged several e-mails, held three telephone conversations and conducted two interviews with local officers of the Army of Republika Srpska and the commanding police officer for the Mrkonjić Grad and its surroundings. These individuals were all engaged with everyday dynamics in Baljvine in 1992 in the crucial period when the threat of bloodshed loomed large.

  10. Today known as Kneževo.

  11. Ustasha, a nationalistic and racist movement responsible also for the assassination of the Yugoslav king Alexander in 1934, were founded by Ante Pavelić. At the outbreak of WWII and the collapse of the Yugoslav regime in 1941, he became the leader of a fascist puppet state known as the Independent State of Croatia. The ideology of the movement was a blend of fascism, Roman Catholicism and Croatian ultranationalism and based on hatred against Serbs, Jews and Roma.

  12. In 1992, the ethnically-mixed area around Jajce was occupied by the military offensive undertaken by the Army of RS in the period between June–October 1992; Jajce was of strategic importance for broader security of the Banja Luka region.

  13. As stated by an officer of the Army of RS, they first came to the village in June 1992 (after the start of Operation Vrbas '92) when they heard gunfire around the village and saw that the situation in the village was worsening – particularly because of the individuals from surrounding villages that sporadically came to Baljvine and tried to instill fear among the villagers with an aim to sell arms. After the intervention of the Army of RS officer and police commander of Mrkonjić Grad in June 1992, the village was considered 'safe'.

  14. Operation Southern Move was the final Croatian Army (HV) and HVO offensive of the Bosnian war. It began in Croatia and continued into Bosnia-Herzegovina. The offensive displaced 10.000 Bosnian Serb refugees from Mrkonjić Grad.

  15. He mentioned the so-called ”Arkan's Tigers”, which were responsible for numerous war crimes and massacres. They operated, among other, also in Mrkonjić Grad.

  16. Most of them returned a year or two after the Dayton Peace Agreement was signed, meaning that the looting may also have happened at the hands of neighbouring villagers after the end of the war.

  17. The author used the following cases: the Semai (Malaya), Siriono (Bolivia), Kung Bushment (Kalahari desert), Mbuti Pygmies (equatorial Africa), Copper Eskimo (Canada), Hutterities (North America) and the Islanders of Tristan da Cunha (South Pacific).

  18. It was comprised of four individuals (two Bosniaks from Lower Baljvine and two Serbs from Upper Baljvine).

  19. And vice versa, as the now employed villagers buy goods from the local shop, providing the owner with means to survive even if they could get the goods in other (bigger) shop for cheaper.

  20. Dost – translated as a friend – is one of many Turkish words in contemporary language in BiH that describes a strong friendship extending beyond casual everyday interactions greetings.

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List of interviews

  • A1, Bosniak local, Baljvine, 11/4/2022

  • A2, Bosniak local, Baljvine, 12/4/2022

  • A3, Bosniak local, Baljvine, 12/4/2022

  • A4, Bosniak local, Baljvine, 14/4/2022

  • A5, Bosniak local, Baljvine, 13/4/2022

  • B1, Bosnian Serb local, Baljvine, 15/4/2022

  • B2, Bosnian Serb local, Baljvine, 12/4/2022

  • B3, Bosnian Serb local, Baljvine, 13/4/2022

  • C1, Bosniak local living outside of Baljvine, interviewed via email, 3/1/2023

  • E1, Local commander of Army of Republika Srpska during the war 1992-95, interviewed via email 18/1/2023

  • E2, Officer of Army of Republika Srpska during the war 1992-95, Banjaluka, 13/2/2023

  • E3, Chief of Police of Mrkonjić Grad during the war 1992-95, Banjaluka, 14/2/2023

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank our colleagues and friends from Bosnia and Herzegovina and beyond, who contributed and helped us during our field work in Baljvine: Mirsad Mešić - Žuti, Haris Mekić, Sandra Biletić, Šemsudin Habibović, Dino Dupanović, Husnija Kamberović, Andjela Djordjević and Tjaša Vučko. We would also like to thank Max Bergholz, the Editorial Board of JIRD and three anonymous reviewers, who helped us improve the paper with their valuable comments.

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  1. Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Faris Kočan, Janja Vuga Beršnak & Rok Zupančič

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  1. Faris Kočan
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Correspondence to Faris Kočan.

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This study has been implemented as part of the project Anxious Peace: Anxieties in cities of southeast European post-conflict societies: introducing an integrative approach to peacebuilding. The project led by Dr Rok Zupančič has been funded by the Slovenian Research Agency (Grant N5-0178). The work was also supported by the Agency’s research programmes P5-0206 and P5-0177.

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Kočan, F., Vuga Beršnak, J. & Zupančič, R. When structural factors that cause interethnic violence work in favour of peace: The story of Baljvine, a warless Bosnian-Herzegovinian peace mosaic. J Int Relat Dev (2024). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41268-024-00331-8

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