“We Are Hungry in Three Languages” Mobilizing Beyond Ethnicity in Bosnia Herzegovina
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“We are hungry in three languages” Mobilizing beyond ethnicity in Bosnia Herzegovina Chiara Milan Thesis submitted for assessment with a view to obtaining the degree of Doctor of Political and Social Sciences of the European University Institute Florence, October 2016 European University Institute Department of Political and Social Sciences “We are hungry in three languages” Mobilizing beyond ethnicity in Bosnia Herzegovina Chiara Milan Thesis submitted for assessment with a view to obtaining the degree of Doctor of Political and Social Sciences of the European University Institute Examining Board Professor László Bruszt, European University Institute (Supervisor) Professor Donatella della Porta, formerly EUI, Scuola Normale Superiore Professor Florian Bieber, University of Graz Professor Adam Fagan, Queen Mary University of London © Chiara Milan, 2016 No part of this thesis may be copied, reproduced or transmitted without prior permission of the author Researcher declaration to accompany the submission of written work Department of Political and Social Sciences - Doctoral Programme I Chiara Milan certify that I am the author of the work “We are hungry in three languages”. Mobilizing beyond ethnicity in Bosnia Herzegovina I have presented for examination for the Ph.D. at the European University Institute. I also certify that this is solely my own original work, other than where I have clearly indicated, in this declaration and in the thesis, that it is the work of others. I warrant that I have obtained all the permissions required for using any material from other copyrighted publications. I certify that this work complies with the Code of Ethics in Academic Research issued by the European University Institute (IUE 332/2/10 (CA 297). The copyright of this work rests with its author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This work may not be reproduced without my prior written consent. This authorisation does not, to the best of my knowledge, infringe the rights of any third party. I declare that this work consists of 89,334 words. Statement of inclusion of previous work: I confirm that chapter 7 draws upon an earlier chapter forthcoming (spring 2017) “‘Sow hunger, reap anger’”: From neoliberal privatization to new collective identities in Bosnia Herzegovina, Global diffusion of protest. Riding the protest wave in the neoliberal crisis, Donatella della Porta (ed.), Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press Statement of language correction: This thesis has been corrected for linguistic and stylistic errors. I certify that I have checked and approved all language corrections, and that these have not affected the content of this work. Signature and date: Florence, 14 September 2016 To granma Antonietta, who could not see the end of this thesis but wholeheartedly supported me throughout its writing Abstract This thesis examines the occurrence and spread of contentious collective action within a country, Bosnia Herzegovina, that historically does not bear a solid tradition of mobilization. In particular, the study focuses on the rise of mobilizations that transcend traditional ethno-nationalist cleavages, and involve individuals and groups that activate an identity other than the ethno-national one, still dominant in the Bosnian Herzegovinian society. I adopted the expression “beyond ethnicity” to label this type of mobilization, stressing that individuals and challenger groups involved in the protest overcame the centrality of ethnicity as social construct, privileging another commonality between individuals that deliberately superseded, and sometimes clashed with, the dominant ethno-national categories that had crystallized in the 1990s. This new, overarching identity is often grounded on feelings of deprivation. Informed by a five-year empirical research in the country, the study explores the variation in spatial and social scale of contention across three waves of mobilization that occurred between 2012 and 2014 and took divergent paths, despite similar socio- economic structural conditions. Through a comparative case study approach, the thesis analyses three waves of protests, taken as manifestations of “mobilization beyond ethnicity”: “The Park is Ours” protests (2012), spawned from the defence of a public park of Banja Luka; the mobilization for civil rights of the children, which became known as #JMBG (2013); and the protests that erupted in Tuzla triggered by local workers, which turned into what activists defined as a “Social Uprising” (2014). The study explains why the waves of mobilization occurred between 2012 and 2014 spread unevenly across the national territory, involved diverse social groups, and entailed different degrees of disruption. The findings of this research demonstrate that a combination of factors both internal and external to the movements made the territorial and social shift upward more likely, and influenced the organizational patterns and action repertoires of the challengers. These factors are pre-existing networks among movement organizers; the resonance of “beyond ethnic” frames in certain cultural milieus; and a conducive political opportunity structure. In the conclusions, the thesis elucidates the implications of these findings for the study of social movements in the post-Yugoslav space. Acknowledgements Confronting an environment with a different culture, history, and practices constituted both a challenge and one of the most enriching experiences of my professional and personal life. I wish to thank the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the European University Institute for having provided me with the necessary financial support. Thanks to my supervisor Laszlo Bruszt, who accompanied me in the diverse phases of this journey, offering guidance in particular in the crucial moment of the writing process. Back in 2010, Donatella della Porta bet that I would start a PhD at the EUI soon or later. In spite of my scepticism towards academia, eventually I have to prove her right. I am particularly grateful to her for trusting me since the beginning, and for providing plenty of chances to research fascinating topics and challenging working opportunities throughout these years. I would like to express my gratitude to the members of my PhD committee, professors Florian Bieber and Adam Fagan, for delivering constructive and insightful comments, which proved particularly valuable for improving the quality of my work. The conference “From Maribor to Taksim” that professor Bieber organized as director of the Center for Southeastern European Studies (CSEES) in Graz in December 2013 motivated me to keep focusing on contentious action in Bosnia Herzegovina at a time in which discontent manifested through street actions was a new phenomenon in the country. The visiting fellowship at CSEES will give me the opportunity to continue this research by focusing on the outcomes of the 2014 protests. Thanks to Adam Fagan for his valuable comments on the dissertation, and for having contributed to organize, as coordinator of the UACES Collaborative Research Network “Fringe Politics in Southeastern Europe”, enriching workshops such as “Resistance or Resilience. New avenues of activist citizenship in Southeast Europe” at the London School of Economics and Political Science and Queen Mary University in May 2015, during which I received insightful comments on part of this work. My research benefited from the comments received from fellow researchers during the numerous conferences I have attended throughout the years. Amongst them, I wish to express deep gratitude to Alfredo Sasso for reading parts of my work and providing incisive feedbacks. I had the fortune to share with him the excitement of the 2014 “Social Uprising” and the plenums that followed. Our never ending discussions about Yugoslavia and its legacy, as well as unforgettable moments of leisure, made the fieldwork period a far from lonely experience, and the thesis writing a lighter burden. I am thankful to the editorial teams of East Journal, Osservatorio Balcani and Caucaso and Roarmag, which proved useful means for sharing my knowledge on the area and on the happenings I was witnessing. Contributing to these online magazines made me feel closer to reality and allowed me to receive crucial feedbacks. I wish to thank the Center for Postgraduate Studies of the University of Sarajevo who hosted me as a Research Fellow in the fall term 2013-14, and express my gratitude in particular to Adriano Remiddi and Federico Sicurella, to the Erasmus Student Network and the International Relation Office of the University of Sarajevo that welcomed me and helped me finding my way through administrative hurdles. Throughout my fieldwork period(s), I had the opportunity to experience the renowned Bosnian Herzegovinian gostoljubivost. I am immensely grateful to my comrades and friends Emin Eminagić and Adis Sadiković, who helped me to discover in particular Tuzla and its working class struggles, and with whom I shared enlightening talks, sang resistance songs and laughed a lot. They opened their hearts and houses, filled my linguistic and historical gaps, and made my fieldwork an unforgettable experience. I am indebted to Marzia Bona and Davide Denti who provided shelters in Sarajevo. I am also grateful to the ERMA and the Erasmus community, and in particular to Silvia, Peppe, Mirjona, Žiga, Xavi, Ajla, Paulina, Sebaastian, Borjana, Greg, Carmela, Arianna and Amira, with whom I shared laughs, dinners, and unforgettable Monday nights