2020 International Summer Course in Critical Peace Studies
Module 1: Understanding Populism and Resistance (the week of 27th-31st of July) - Instructor Valida Repovac Nikšić, University of Sarajevo
The module starts with an overview of the history of populism in different social and cultural contexts. Its main focus however is on the contemporary phenomena of populism within democratic systems. We will analyze this “globalized populism”, the new right-wing populism as well as ideas and theories advocated by left progressive populism. The idea is to discuss the potential of left-populist movements in the United States, Spain and Greece. In the end, we will try to understand the specificities of ethnonational populism in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Module 2: Feminism and networks of resistance (the week of 3rd-7th of August) - Instructor Zlatiborka Popov Momčinović, University of East Sarajevo
The aim of this module is to inform the participants about the feminist networks existing in Bosnia and Herzegovina as an opposition to the dominant ethnopolitics of the current political system of BiH and the patriarchal values that falsely legitimize it. A brief overview of the history of feminism will be given, in order to oppose the miscomprehension that feminism emerged in the country as the consequence of foreign agents, especially donors. More details will be provided focusing on women’s informal groups that started to work during the 90s in order to help others and provide humanitarian aid to the population and to initiate first reconciliation efforts (ethic of care). After the war, women’s groups started to register and to work more proactively on the issues of political participation, domestic violence and other forms of deprivation, making the connection between violence in the private and public spheres in accordance with feminist principles. This resulted in the flourishing of women’s groups in terms of numbers and women activists, while nourishing connections with feminists from other republics of former Yugoslavia brought a new quality and culture of remembrance opposing the widespread ethnic homogenous divisions and historical revisionism.
The very fact that activists perceive their engagement as a sphere of freedom contrary to the pure might in official political institutions and dominant political parties, the creativity they express in their activities despite the boundaries imposed by the system itself and the NGOization of civil society provides a safe space of resistance, persistence and questioning of imposed gender roles. Also, contrary to the majority of networks that were formed in the country, women’s networks such as Women’s Network, Safe Networks, Roma Networks and RING have succeeded to last as they are the results of genuine conviction of the members and importance of feminism as a toolkit of women’s resistance. The results as well shortcomings of all these efforts will be discussed during the module.
Module 3: Everyday resistance in the workplace (the week of 10th-14th of August) - Instructor Jasmin Ramović, University of Manchester
In the socialist past of (BiH), coexistence between different ethnic groups was largely attributed to industrial development, as people made massive moves from rural to urban areas in search of employment. Industrialisation was followed by a large-scale urban development which included housing for employees of new factories. Workers interacted in the workplace and in their new neighbourhoods, which led to an increase in inter-ethnic cohesion to an extent never seen before. In an attempt to preserve that cohesion, workers in many places in BiH staged peace rallies on the eve of the 1990s war. Nationalist fervour and the resulting armed violence were an insurmountable obstacle in that regard. However, despite the war and the ensuing ethnic cleansing which turned most of these workplaces into mono-ethnic spaces, many relationships established in the workplace stood the test of war and work colleagues were among the first people to re-establish contact after the violence came to an end.
In the aftermath of the war, some companies also have crossed the ethnic divide by hiring workers from different ethnic backgrounds. More than a few companies, in different parts of BiH are now sites of ethnically mixed workplaces. Furthermore, the capitalist mode of economy - combined with soaring unemployment after the war – have effectively curtailed workers’ rights, which led the workforce of different ethnic background to put their differences aside and engage in joint battles against employers and governments in various parts of the country.
Internationally led peacebuilding intervention in BiH has ignored the role that the workplace played in inter-ethnic cohesion in the country’s past and overlooked its potential as a space with significant potential for peacebuilding. This asks for further scrutinization of the workplace from the perspective of critical peace studies to shed more light on the role that this space can play in resisting nationalism and populism, not only in BiH but also in a growing number of countries which are affected by these phenomena.
- With lecture by Oliver Richmond 'The Evolution of the International Peace Architecture'
The theories and doctrines related to peacekeeping, peacebuilding, and other tools used to end war and conflict, raise a range of long-standing questions about the evolution and integrity of what might be called an international peace architecture. This is a term that has begun to appear in the context of peacebuilding through the UN, the African Union, and the broader constellation or alphabet soup of international actors, from transitional civil society, to the UN system, the EU, OSCE, NATO, other regional actors, the international legal system, and the IFIs. This lecture will focus on the latest findings which propose that there have been six main theoretical- historical stages in this process, which have produced a substantial, though fragile, international architecture.
Module 4: Mostar virtual excursion (one day during the weeks of 10th of August or 17th of August)
Module 5: Local-first activism as resistance (the week of 17th-21st of August) - Instructor Randall Puljek-Shank, International Burch University
The aim of this module is to acquaint course participants with information about key moments in the recent history of activism in BiH, as needed context for understanding its potential and limitations as a form of resistance. Following an introduction to the topic, participants will select one of several possible case studies to investigate in more depth. What can we learn from each case study about the social, political and symbolic goals of the activists, and ultimately what results can activism achieve in BiH's consociationalist and ethnocratic form of governance? The module concludes with a discussion of the struggles of activists to establish their legitimacy with the broader public, the persistent tendency towards anti-politics, and the relevance of a local-first approach in this light.
Module 6: Resistance within international projects (the week of 24th-28th of August) - Instructor Nejra Čengić, University of Manchester
The operation of civil society, including peacebuilding civil society in BiH, often occurs within the frame of internationally funded projects. To a degree these projects therefore determine agendas, modes of operation, the status of those employed and more broadly the underlying explanations of social reality. In BiH the recruitment of local people in international organizations started during the war (1992-1995). After 1996 their engagement increased under the umbrella of internationally led democratisation, peacebuilding and EU integration processes, with the emergence of numerous local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) funded through donations from Western governments, particularly after 2000.
This module will build on my own field research in BiH about the status of people who have accumulated long work experience on many such short-term internationally funded projects and on similar ethnographic studies worldwide. Its aim is three-fold: to present multiple forms and complexities of resistance of BiH civil society actors against ethno-nationalism; to explore the peculiar ways in which some subvert the logic of internationally funded projects; and to understand the contradictory implications of such temporary modes of operation for these people's lives and for BiH society at large. Some core questions will be: What kinds of resistance are promoted and possible through international projects? How does civil society fit those aims? Which paradoxes do civil society actors face in their work? How do they cope with the tensions between short-term and long-term logics in their work and in their lives? How do they understand the relation between the activist dimension of their work and the fact it is their source of livelihood too?
