Population Politics in Bosnia and Herzegovina: A Reply to Bochsler and Schläpfer

Abstract

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Counting for EU enlargement?

“…However, if political benefits are linked to population numbers, this can lead to negative discrimination or even create a challenge to national identity and state boundaries. Since census processes give ethnic groups the opportunity to (re)claim political ownership, census-taking is necessarily political (Cooley & Mujanović, 2016). Therefore it is important to look at the dynamics that exist between censuses and the ethnic and cultural categories they may impose.…”

“…On the other hand, the definition of these groups and the linking of political benefits to population numbers may lead to negative discrimination or may even challenge concepts of national identity and state boundaries. Hence the inclusion of ethnic and cultural questions and categories in a population census is highly problematic (Bochsler & Schläpfer, 2015;Cooley & Mujanović, 2016). The difficulties that arise can influence the whole census operation and even lead to its failure.…”