Narratives of Victimhood and Perpetration in Bosnia and Herzegovina
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Olivera Simic
Abstract
Two narratives – of victimhood and perpetration – in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) go hand in hand. They overlap, blend, intertwine, and, as I will argue, deepen polarisation among and between the main ethnic groups, rather than help bridge the societal divide, which appears to be deeper than ever since the end of the armed conflict in 1995. In this essay, I will reflect on what I saw, felt, and heard during my regular visits to Banja Luka, my hometown and the administrative centre of Republika Srpska, Bih. I will use my latest visit as a backdrop to tell the broader story of fragile transitional justice processes in BiH, and beyond.
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© 2026 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
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- Essay
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Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Atrocity Crimes and international criminal justice: Linking the past and the future
- Artikel
- Glanz und Elend des Internationalen Strafgerichtshofs –Errungenschaften, Probleme, offene Fragen
- Völkermord vor Gericht – Wie internationale Urteile den Genozid entschlüsseln
- Investigating Atrocity Crimes: Between Advocacy and Justice
- Imprisoning War Criminals on a Trial-and-Error Basis: Spandau, Landsberg, and Sugamo as Improvised Institutions of Sentence Enforcement
- Reconceptualising Offender Rehabilitation in International Criminal Justice: The IRMCT Early Release Practice (2019–2025)
- Survivor-Led Reparations in Kosovo: From Harm to Healing
- Essay
- Narratives of Victimhood and Perpetration in Bosnia and Herzegovina