The Rise and Fall of Peacebuilding in the Balkans

Belloni, Roberto

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-14424-1

Cited by 23 publications

(37 citation statements)

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“…At the core of these processes is the insistence on going beyond the ethnicisation of victims toward shared goals and joint activism tackling injustices and inequalities that cut across ethno-national groups (Fridman, 2020;Fridman & Ristić, 2020). These initiatives create alternative platforms for the confrontation of divisive nationalism in post-conflict divided societies (Belloni, 2020;Fridman, 2020).…”

Section: Pathways To Wider 'Ripple Effects' and Socio-political Changesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scalability of Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Interventions: Moving Toward Wider Socio-political Change

Haider¹

2021

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Literature focusing on the aftermath of conflict in the Western Balkans, notes that many people remain focused on stereotypes and prejudices between different ethnic groups stoking fear of a return to conflict. This rapid review examines evidence focussing on various interventions that seek to promote inter-group relations that are greatly elusive in the political realm in the Western Balkan. Socio-political change requires a growing critical mass that sees the merit in progressive and conciliatory ethnic politics and is capable of side-lining divisive ethno-nationalist forces. This review provides an evidence synthesis of pathways through which micro-level, civil-society-based interventions can produce ‘ripple effects’ in society and scale up to affect larger geographic areas and macro-level socio-political outcomes. These interventions help in the provision of alternative platforms for dealing with divisive nationalism in post-conflict societies. There is need to ensure that the different players participating in reconciliation activities are able to scale up and attain broader reach to ensure efficacy and hence enabling them to become ‘multiplier of peace.’ One such way is by providing tools for activism. The involvement of key people and institutions, who are respected and play an important role in the everyday life of communities and participants is an important factor in the design and success of reconciliation initiatives. These include the youth, objective media, and journalists. The transformation of conflict identities through reconciliation-related activities is theorised as leading to the creation of peace constituencies that support non-violent approaches to conflict resolution and sustainable peace The success of reconciliation interventions largely depends on whether it contributes to redefining otherwise antagonistic identities and hostile relationships within a community or society.

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Section: Pathways To Wider 'Ripple Effects' and Socio-political Changesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scalability of Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Interventions: Moving Toward Wider Socio-political Change

Haider¹

2021

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show abstract

“…In the context of the Western Balkans, international organisations have encouraged the spread of civil society actors, recognising their important role in the construction of and support to democratic institutions and political culture, which as a result has led the region to host a great number of civil society organisations (OSCE 2018b). For instance, in BiH, the organisations registered by 2010 amounted to more than 12,000, while in Kosovo the number of registered NGOs in the same period was around 6000 (Belloni 2019;Strazzari and Selenica 2013). Consequently, due to its bottom-up characteristics, civil society stood out immediately in the aftermath of the Yugoslav wars as driver of change in the region (Simić 2013;McEvoy and McGregor 2008).…”

Section: Civil Society In the Western Balkansmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Consequently, due to its bottom-up characteristics, civil society stood out immediately in the aftermath of the Yugoslav wars as driver of change in the region (Simić 2013;McEvoy and McGregor 2008). The established civil society organisations work in different fields concerning democratisation, post-conflict stabilisation and rule of law (OSCE 2018b), following the neoliberal peace-building idea of the importance of security and human rights (Belloni 2019). However, the flourishing civil society did not manage to meet the expectations of its role as driver of change because of barriers imposed by different factors.…”

Section: Civil Society In the Western Balkansmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In fact, the local turn in reconciliation processes might bring about a resurgence of favourable conditions for conflicts as a result of the unsettled tensions (Simangan 2019). Throughout the years, civil society actors in the region have tended to emerge according to their ethnic affiliation, rather than expressing the interests of the mass (Mujkić 2007;Belloni 2019). This was particularly the case of Kosovo; Kosovar civil society emerged in the light of the regional turmoil in the 1990s and was strongly linked to the quest for national self-determination, providing alternative structures to the Serbian state.…”

Section: Civil Society In the Western Balkansmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At the same time, BiH has also experienced problems linked to ethnic identities constraining the potential of civil society in the process of reconciliation, although in the country, the limits came from the divided nature of the Bosnian state itself. In fact, an organisation is automatically linked to an ethnic group because of the place in which it was registered; thus, the chances of involving other ethnic groups are constrained as the ability of local civil society actors to prompt a wider debate at the national level (Žeravčić and Biščević 2009;Belloni 2019). Furthermore, as a consequence of the ethnicisation of advocacy groups in the region, the Western Balkans have seen over the years a rise in the amount of illiberal civil society organisations that are using conservative and ethno-nationalist arguments in order to resist the process of reconciliation to avoid recognising their share of the blame for the conflict (Kostovicova and Bojicic-Dzelilovic 2013;Džihić et al 2018;Belloni 2019).…”

Section: Civil Society In the Western Balkansmentioning

confidence: 99%

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