Ethnic Cleansing in Bosnia & Herzegovina

The largest scale of ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia occurred in Bosnia & Herzegovina. An estimated 2.7 million people were ethnically cleansed in 1991–1992.

Ethnic Diversity in Bosnia & Herzegovina

Bosnia & Herzegovina was the most ethnically diverse republic of the former Yugoslavia. At the time of the breakup of Yugoslavia, the population of Bosnia & Herzegovina was 44 percent Bosniaks, 31 percent Serbs, and 17 percent Croats (Figure 7-55a). Bosniaks are frequently called Bosnian Muslims, in recognition of their predominant religion. Rather than live in an independent multiethnic state with a Muslim plurality, Bosnia & Herzegovina’s Serbs and Croats fought to unite the portions of the republic that they inhabited with Serbia and Croatia, respectively.

Bosnia & Herzegovina Before and After Ethnic Cleansing

(a) Distribution of ethnicities in Bosnia & Herzegovina before the war during the 1990s. (b) Distribution of ethnicities after ethnic cleansing, which resulted in a transfer of control of territory from Bosniaks to Serbs and Croats.

To strengthen their cases for breaking away from Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbs and Croats engaged in ethnic cleansing of Bosniaks. According to the United Nations, ethnic cleansing in Bosnia included “murder, torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, extra-judicial executions, rape and sexual assaults, confinement of civilian population in ghetto areas, forcible removal, displacement and deportation of civilian population, deliberate military attacks or threats of attacks on civilians and civilian areas, and wanton destruction of property.”

Srebrenica Massacre

The 1995 Srebrenica massacre is considered the largest single ethnic cleansing and genocide event in Bosnia & Herzegovina. In this image, Bosniaks, who had been ethnically cleansed from the village of Srebrenica by Serbs, arrive at a refugee camp after walking for several days. The below shows that following ethnic cleansing, Srebrenica changed from predominantly Bosniak to predominantly Serb.

Ethnic cleansing ensured that areas did not merely have majorities of Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats but were ethnically homogeneous and therefore better candidates for union with Serbia and Croatia. Ethnic cleansing by Serbs against Bosniaks was especially severe because the territory inhabited by Serbs in Bosnia comprised several discontinuous areas, many of which were separated from Serbia by areas with Bosniak majorities. By ethnically cleansing Bosniaks from intervening areas, Bosnian Serbs created one continuous area of Serb domination rather than several discontinuous ones.

Bosnia & Herzegovina after Ethnic Cleansing

Accords reached in Dayton, Ohio, in 1996 by leaders of the various ethnicities divided Bosnia & Herzegovina into three regions, one each dominated, respectively, by Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs. The Bosniak and Croat regions were combined into a federation, with some cooperation between the two groups, but the Serb region has operated with almost complete independence in all but name from the others.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, established by the United Nations, convicted Croat and Serb leaders of war crimes for the ethnic cleansing of Bosniaks. Yet ethnic cleansing was ultimately successful. The Dayton agreements gave Serbs control of around 50 percent of the land even though they comprised only 40 percent of the population of Bosnia & Herzegovina. Croats got around 20 percent of the land but comprised only 15 percent of the population. Bosniaks, with 45 percent of the population, got only 30 percent of the land. Nonetheless, Bosnia & Herzegovina is once again a relatively peaceful place.

A Symbol of Ethnic Cleansing In Bosnia & Herzegovina

(a) The Stari Most (old bridge), in the city of Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina, was built by the Turks in 1566 across the Neretva River. (b) The bridge was blown up by Croats in 1993 as part of their ethnic cleansing against the Bosniaks. (c). With the end of the war in Bosnia & Herzegovina, the bridge was rebuilt in 2004.

Pause & Reflect 7.4.3

In which regions within Bosnia & Herzegovina did Serbs gain most of their territory?

Balkanization

The terms Balkanized and Balkanization were once widely used by world leaders as well as geographers:

• Balkanized was defined as a small geographic area that could not successfully be organized into stable countries because it was inhabited by many ethnicities with complex, long-standing antagonisms toward each other.

• Balkanization was defined as the process by which a state breaks down through conflicts among its ethnicities.

A century ago, world leaders regarded the process of Balkanization of Southeast Europe as a threat to world peace. They were right: Balkanization led directly to World War I because the various nationalities in the Balkans dragged into the war the larger powers with which they had alliances.

After two world wars and the rise and fall of communism during the twentieth century, Southeast Europe once again became Balkanized into the twenty-first century. Peace has come to the Balkans in the twenty-first century because ethnic cleansing tragically accomplished its goal. Thousands of people were rounded up and killed or forced to migrate because they constituted ethnic minorities. Ethnic homogeneity has become the price of peace in areas that once were multiethnic.

Balkanization of The Balkan Peninsula

Over a century ago the Balkan Peninsula was ruled by the Ottoman Empire. It lasted for a long time but after a while things started going badly for the Empire and it started breaking apart. The people weren’t happy with the way that the Empire was ruling them, and they started a rebellion. That rebellion began in 1817, but it didn’t end for 95 years, until 1912. At that point, the Empire broke apart into separate countries.

Today those countries include Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria and a whole lot of others, but the countries did not like each other when this first happened, and they actually fought a lot. It took a lot of time before they were able to coexist in any way and even longer to actually work together. The problems that had been there with the entire Empire really influenced the people to hate each other for a long time. What this showed us is that balkanization often starts in a negative way, but in the long run it can yield positive results, because after breaking up the countries really had a better existence.

Benefits of Balkanization

What we know is that balkanization has happened in a number of countries, like the ones we’ve already mentioned, but we haven’t seen any way that it’s a positive occurrence. What’s happening now though is that researchers are starting to think about whether it could be positive. One of the biggest things they’re focusing on is the United Kingdom, which is already a large territory much like the Ottoman Empire was. The way that it’s run right now, the entire United Kingdom is treated as one country, but really it’s made up of smaller countries.

Researchers think that maybe it would be better if those countries really did break up because then they could be more successful on their own. Countries like Scotland, Wales and England, would be responsible for themselves instead of acting as one large country, and this could change the way we see them and the way that they interact with the rest of the world.

Each country would have its own rules and operations; they would be able to improve the standard of living for each country on their own. Plus a positive breakup would mean cooperation continues between the countries but not as one entity. But since no one has seen a positive balkanization yet, all we can really do is speculate.

Trouble with Balkanization

In many instances, balkanization is used as a term to describe the devolution of larger countries and states as a result of multi-ethnicity leading to ethnic fragmentation and an overall feeling of political fragmentation. In these instances, balkanization can lead to dictatorship or even ethnic cleansing. These aspects can reflect upon the myriad negative effects that occur in regards to balkanization. This is what happened in countries like Armenia and Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia and Yugoslavia, which had a whole lot of problems with ethnic division. When these things occur, and countries begin to revolt against one another, it can result in ethnic boundaries being formed between states.

When ethnic or political boundaries establish the new states or countries within what was once a single region it results in bloodshed and the subjugation of some ethnic or religious groups for the benefit of other ethnic or religious groups. There is no benefit to this type of occurrence, and the people who find themselves bound within it are generally uncertain of their future within the world or within their own country. This can lead to a disintegration of relations with outside countries including trade relations, as occurred with Yugoslavia in the 90’s.

Important Definitions for Balkanization

Multinational – Relating to several different nationalities or comprising of several different nationalities. Balkanization can occur in regions where there is a lot of diversity and nationalities coming together in one place. This is what we call a multinational region because it has several nations together like the United Kingdom, which is made up of nations like Scotland and Wales.

Multi-ethnic – Relating to several different ethnic groups or comprising of several different ethnic groups. Balkanization typically only occurs in areas where there is multi-ethnicity, which can lead to problems within the region and amongst the people living there. A multi-ethnic region could be a single country or state that comprises of a range of different people from different ethnic backgrounds all at the same time like in Armenia, where ethnic differences caused a lot of problems in the country.

Centrifugal Force – A centrifugal force is one that tears something apart from the inside. It doesn’t have to actually be a force but could be a difference in people that makes them turn on each other. An example would be the religious differences that occur in the United States now, with each religion believing to be the dominant. If there is a lot of trouble with people trying to get along within the country, it can actually lead to problems in the country remaining unified.

Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization.