The Road to the Srebrenica Genocide: Mechanisms of the Genocidal Process in Eastern Bosnia (1992-1995)
The Road to the Srebrenica Genocide: Mechanisms of the Genocidal Process in Eastern Bosnia (1992-1995)

Author(s): Zilha Mastalić Košuta
Subject(s): Military history, Political history, Military policy, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Peace and Conflict Studies, Wars in Jugoslavia
Published by: Institut za istraživanje zločina protiv čovječnosti i međunarodnog prava Univerziteta u Sarajevu
Keywords: Srebrenica; genocide; Eastern Bosnia; Podrinje; genocidal process; Army of Republika Srpska; political and military mechanisms;
Summary/Abstract: This article examines the Srebrenica genocide as the final stage of a multi-year historical process in which the genocidal process in Eastern Bosnia between 1992 and 1995 gradually developed, became institutionalized, and was implemented through the interaction of political objectives, military strategies, administrative structures, and mechanisms directed toward the destruction of the Bosniak population. Drawing on theoretical approaches that conceptualize genocide as a process rather than an isolated event, the study argues that the mass killings committed in July 1995 constituted the culmination of previously established political, military, administrative, and humanitarian mechanisms directed toward the destruction of the Bosniak community in the Podrinje region. The paper analyzes the strategic objectives of the political leadership of Republika Srpska, the military directives of the Main Staff of the Army of Republika Srpska, systematic violence committed against the Bosniak population of Eastern Bosnia, the prolonged blockade of Srebrenica, the obstruction of humanitarian assistance, and the institutional preparation of the final military operation. Particular attention is devoted to the analysis of Directive No. 4 (1992) and Directives No. 7 and 7-1 (1995) as key military documents that provide important evidence of the planning and implementation of measures aimed at creating conditions of insecurity, isolation, and physical depletion of the population as integral components of the broader genocidal process. This research is based on an analysis of primary sources, including military documents, international reports, and relevant case law of international tribunals, employing historical and comparative methods. It concludes that the Srebrenica genocide was neither a spontaneous consequence of military operations nor solely the result of the July 1995 offensive, but rather the final stage of a deliberately organized and institutionally implemented process in which political objectives, military strategy, and humanitarian isolation created the conditions for the physical destruction of a substantial part of the Bosniak population of Eastern Bosnia. The article proposes an interpretative framework that situates the Srebrenica genocide within broader historiographical debates concerning the temporal development of genocidal processes and the transformation of policies of exclusion into mechanisms of physical destruction.

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