POLITICAL IDENTITY AND VIOLENCE: THE CASE OF BOSNIAN WAR

Abstract

Political identity, once exploited through extreme nationalism and ethnic division, can escalate

into violence and armed conflict, as demonstrated by the Bosnian War (1992–1995). The ethnic

cleansing carried out by Bosnian Serb forces against Bosnian Muslims was driven by identity

politics, as Serbian nationalist elites pursued an ethnically homogeneous territory following

the dissolution of Yugoslavia. This case illustrates how ethnicity and religion can be

instrumentalised to justify mass atrocity. The Dayton Agreement of 1995 ended the fighting but

institutionalised power-sharing along ethnic lines, a structure that continues to hinder the

formation of a cohesive national identity and that has produced political marginalisation for

minority groups. A more inclusive framework is required to accommodate ethnic diversity

while building a unified national identity. This article examines political identity and violence

during the Bosnian War using identity politics theory and ethnic nationalism theory as its

analytical framework. The study applies a qualitative method through a literature-based

(library) research design