"Civil Society and Hegemonic Struggles in Bosnia-Herzegovina" with Prof. Roberto Belloni

Abstract
What role does civil society play in peace processes? Drawing from Gramscian political theory and related debates on hegemony, this lecture addresses the dynamics of activism in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Following the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement civil society actors have engaged in a counter-hegemonic struggle challenging the existing ethnocracy grounded in economic neoliberal reforms and nationalist rule. This “dual hegemony” has guaranteed stability, understood as absence of war, but at the cost of social marginalization, unemployment, increasing poverty and growing migration – especially towards the European Union. In this context citizens who find it hard to cope with the demands of both nationalism and neo-liberalism have rejected the power of the ruling oligarchy and attempted to spread solidarity principles and non-ethnic values alternative to nationalism, looking for different forms of political practice and sociality. They have struggled to advance a counter-hegemony focused on citizen needs and more coherent with global justice claims - but with little avail. Micro-political initiatives of peace formation never developed into a critical mass to undermine popular support for nationalism. Citizens’ rebellion and requests for emancipation were met with increased coercion. Bosnia remains gripped by what Gramsci would have defined as an “organic crisis” with no end in sight.

Speaker bio
Roberto Belloni is Professor of International Relations at the University of Trento (Italy). Previously he held teaching and research positions at Denver University, Harvard, Queens Belfast and Johns Hopkins Bologna. His research concerns various aspects of peacebuilding in post-settlement societies, with a particular focus on the role of civil society in the transition from war to peace. His last book is The Rise and Fall of Peacebuilding in the Balkans (2020).