Written on the Darkest Pages of Human History, 1991–2000

From the standpoint of the 1990s, the twentieth century seems to have ended on especially depressing notes. Run through the catalogue of tragedy: the hopeful Oslo Accords go dead with the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin (1995); Serbian-Slovenian War (1991); Serbian-Croatian War (1991–1995); Bosnian War (1992–1996); first Congo War (1996–1997); Great War of Africa (1998–2003), where 6 million were killed; and the Kosovo War (1998–1999). Their driving force was nationalism, undoubtedly, some found themselves the key. For Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma (Myanmar) her choice in the three-tiered political identity was the nation for which she gave up her family and all the global ideals in the beginning of her career: human rights, democracy, and individual freedom.

NEUSPEH ŽENEVSKIH PREGOVORA O PREKIDU RATA U BOSNI I HERCEGOVINI JANUARA 1993.

The International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia was created in London in August of 1992 as an instrument for the negotiations conducted by the United Nations and the European Community, represented by Cyrus Vance and Lord David Owen. Until the end of the year, they developed a detailed proposal to settle the Bosnian conflict, known as the Vance-Owen Peace Plan (VOPP). The VOPP was presented to the leaders of the warring factions in Geneva during the first session of talks in January of 1993. On the basis of archive material, judicial records, published documents, and memoirs of the participants, this article aims to reconstruct the dramatic negotiation process, which consisted of several rounds. An analysis of the declared Bosnian, Serbian, and Croatian positions during the negotiations, as well as the interactions among the delegations and relations within them, reveals that all the parties were had been deeply engaged in double dealing. The Croatian side was seemingly ready to sign the VOPP but was undermining it by launching a conflict in the field at the same time. The Serbian side was escalating as well, the Bosnian Serb leaders were not ready to accept the plan, despite the suggestions they had received from Belgrade. Sarajevo was procrastinating, hoping for a direct US involvement in the crisis following the inauguration of the new Clinton Administration. That administration did undermine the plan, which damaged the credibility of the international negotiators. In such circumstances, the plan had slim chances of succeeding. Although a ceasefire would have shortened the Bosnian war by almost three years and cut human losses by at least half, the main negotiators found a compromise solution to be unacceptable. As they defined and propagated maximalist goals, acceptance of a compromise was both damaging their grip on power and defying their worldview.

A Feminist Analysis: Sexual Violence in the Bosnian War (1992-1995)

Throughout history, war violence has disproportionately affected women, especially in patriarchal societies. Wartime rape, which is the most common and destructive type of conflict-related sexual violence, is the clearest example of these effects. This study clarifies the sexual violence experiences of Yugoslavian women during the Bosnian War, which had lasted between the years 1992-1995, with an anti-militarist feminist perspective. The first part of the article includes hypotheses of feminist theory about conflict-related sexual violence. The second part handles types of sexual violence such as wartime rape, forced prostitution, and forced pregnancy that had affected women in Yugoslavian conflict areas between 1992-1995. The last part of the study describes the numerical dimensions of the sexual violence used in the Bosnian War and its ef-fects on Yugoslavian women. Throughout history, war violence has disproportionately affected women, especially in patriarchal societies. Wartime rape, which is the most common and destructive type of conflict-related sexual violence, is the clearest example of these effects. This study clarifies the sexual violence experiences of Yugoslavian women during the Bosnian War, which had lasted between the years 1992-1995, with an anti-militarist feminist perspective. The first part of the article includes hypotheses of feminist theory about conflict-related sexual violence. The second part handles types of sexual violence such as wartime rape, forced prostitution, and forced pregnancy that had affected women in Yugoslavian conflict areas between 1992-1995. The last part of the study describes the numerical dimensions of the sexual violence used in the Bosnian War and its effects on Yugoslavian women.

The Bosnian Genocide and the Srebrenica massacre

This paper aims to place the Srebrenica massacre in its broader context, both in terms of its place in the Bosnian war, and theoretically. The Srebrenica massacre is the only war crime of the Bosnian war that has, in legal terms, been solidly confirmed to have constituted genocide. In the ICTY, 2001 convicted Radislav Krstic of complicity in genocide for his role in the Srebrenica massacre, thereby establishing the fact of the Srebrenica genocide. The ICJ, in its ruling of 2007 in Bosnia vs Serbia, explicitly stated that the Srebrenica massacre was an act of genocide. However, the ICJ in the same ruling stated that other massacres of the Bosnian war, in particular those of 1992 when Bosnian Serb military forces were formally under Belgrade’s command, were not genocide. The ICTY has so far failed to convict any suspect of genocide except in relation to the Srebrenica massacre. Consequently, the Srebrenica massacre has assumed the status of a crime apart in the Bosnian war.

Milorad Dodik’s Public Attitudes and Perceptions Toward the ICTY

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was‎ formally closed on 21 December 2017. During the quarter century of its existence, ‎ICTY’s rulings had a significant impact on public discourses and narratives‎ about the Bosnian war. Different opinions among the citizens of Bosnia‎ and Herzegovina (BiH) about ICTY’s role and its verdicts have emerged over ‎time, especially among the leaders of the dominant ethno-political parties representing ‎the three ethno-constituent groups – Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs.‎ Milorad Dodik, current member of the BiH Presidency, a former President of ‎Republika Srpska (RS) entity, and the leader of one of the most prominent political‎ parties in RS, was particularly vocal and critical about the work of the ‎ICTY. This paper closely examines Dodik’s public views and opinions toward ‎the ICTY. We use content- and operational code analysis to analyze key features‎ of his perceptions toward the ICTY’s work while serving as the President ‎of RS for two consecutive terms.‎

THE CROAT-BOSNIAK WAR: THE SELECT FINDINGS OF THE RECENT REGIONAL HISTORIOGRAPHY

The Croat-Bosniak war is one of the least researched episodes of the Bosnian war. I reviewed the recent works of two regional authors who had access to original war records of the Bosnian Croats and the Bosniaks and then compared their findings with some of the representative views of secondary literature. Among other things, I focused on the Vance-Owen peace plan and the initial hostilities in the central Bosnian municipalities. My chief conclusion is that the importance placed on the Vance-Owen peace plan in secondary literature is misleading as it ignores the local military and political dynamics.

Islam in Bosnia Between East and West: The Reception and Development of Traditionalism

The article looks at the reception and development of Guénonian Traditionalism in Bosnia from the 1970s to the present day. Traditionalism was initially received in Yugoslavia as esotericism, but then its reception became more Islamic, based in Sarajevo’s Islamic Theology Faculty. After the Bosnian War, Islamic Traditionalist works became popular among young Bosnians who wanted to combine Islam with European identities. Some Bosnian ulama taught Traditionalist works to their students, a development unparalleled elsewhere, and wrote their own Traditionalist-influenced works, mostly dealing with interreligious dialogue. The Bosnian reception and development of Traditionalism is unique, and it is argued that this reflects Bosnia’s special position between East and West.

„Wszystko zaczyna się od słów […]”. Filip David i Mirko Kovač: listy o wojnie w byłej Jugosławii

In the essay the author analyses the problematics of genocide based on correspondence between Filip David and Mirko Kovač Kiedy kwitnie zło. Książka listów 1992–1995 (When evilflourishes. A book of letters 1992–1995) to later juxtapose it with studies on Shoah. She ponders the generational perspective of people whose lives were tarnished by the Nazi-Germany occupation (Filip David – born 1940, Mirko Kovač – born 1938). The article most of all aims at reconstructing the stances of the two authors of letters and showing genocide as a realm of incessant discussion, vague affects, unsystematized knowledge. The author undertakes an attempt to reconstruct only some of the topics and contexts accompanying the issues discussed in David’s and Kovač’s letters, particularly: the soul-searing descriptions of the Bosnian War of 1992–1995. She shows that the language facet of violence proves to be a challenge to reflecting on literature in the correspondence between the two intellectuals. When faced with the disintegration of hitherto social order in the former Yugoslavia, the nationalist discourse, as social studies and research on genocide suggest, prepares the ground for activation of violent behaviours, justifies them, and plays a key role in fomenting the genocidal repression. As a result of the said processes, the authorities create and reinforce nations’ cultural self-images, tighten the control over ethnic purity of collective identity,instigate conflicts between neighbours based on “the blood and soil myth,” cherry-pick the xenophobic discourse of the past, and force through with ethnical interpretations of culture.