IDENTITET, SEĆANJE I KOLEKTIVNA TRAUMA: KRITIČKA REFLEKSIJA POSTKONFLIKTNIH DRUŠTAVA ZAPADNOG BALKANA
IDENTITY, MEMORY AND COLLECTIVE TRAUMA: A CRITICAL REFLECTION ON POST-CONFLICT SOCIETIES OF THE WESTERN BALKANS

Summary/Abstract: The article develops a critical analysis of how identity, collective memory, and transgenerational trauma are structurally coupled in post-conflict societies of the Western Balkans, with particular focus on Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia, and Kosovo. The research employs a mixed-method critical-analytical approach that integrates a structured synthesis of peer-reviewed literature published between 2015 and 2023, comparative documentary analysis of institutional indicators of post-conflict memory governance — including statutory memory regimes, longitudinal studies of psychological distress among survivors, and case studies of commemorative practices related to Srebrenica, Prijedor, Vukovar, and Kosovo — and conceptual decomposition of existing analytical frameworks in memory studies, transitional justice studies, and post-conflict sociology. The central finding is that identity, memory, and collective trauma in post-conflict societies of the region operate not as parallel but as recursively coupled dimensions of post-conflict reproduction, and that no dimension can be analytically or politically resolved in isolation from the other two. The empirical pattern documented in institutional indicators and the synthesised literature reveals that post-conflict reform initiatives — from internationally imposed memory laws to domestic transitional-justice policies — systematically fail because they target one dimension while leaving the other two unchanged, leading to compensatory intensification of the unaltered dimensions. The original contribution of this article is the introduction of the analytical framework of the triad of post-conflict reproduction, which decomposes the post-conflict dynamic of the region into three coupled components — ethno-political memory, identity consolidation, and transgenerational trauma — and specifies the feedback paths through which each component intensifies the other two. The paper closes with implications for reconciliation policies in the Western Balkans, arguing that substantive reconciliation requires simultaneous intervention on all three components of the triad rather than sequential or isolated reforms. Methodological limitations include reliance on aggregate institutional indicators and the English-language concentration of the source literature.

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