Ethnic Politics in Western Balkans: The State of Play and Ways Forward
Ethnic Politics in Western Balkans: The State of Play and Ways Forward

Summary/Abstract: Twenty-five years since the break-up of Yugoslavia, most Western Balkans societies are still recovering from armed conflict and widespread violence. Currently, ethnicity continues to be a salient and polarizing factor in most societies in the Western Balkans and ethnic parties claiming to represent ethnic communities have become the rule rather than the exception in the post-conflict situation. Particularly in Bosnia and Macedonia, political parties using the ethno-nationalist card have entrenched a system of ethnic patronage extending towards the large public administration at central and local levels as well as business and media sectors. To better understand this phenomena and potential paths forward, this article revisits some of the assumptions on the role ethnicity and ethnic parties play in multi-ethnic societies by looking at the empirical record in the Western Balkans focusing primarily. The article’s empirical sections analyse the impact of ethnicity in post-conflict societies and how ethnicity affects political party strategies. Specifically, the article focuses on the record of ethnic politics in Western Balkans focusing on Bosnia and Macedonia and concludes with some ideas and contingent generalisations on the potential for de-ethnicizing politics across the region.

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