Segregated education in post-conflict Bosnia and the possibilities of future conflicts in Europe

Project Information

GATED

Grant agreement ID: 708249

DOI

10.3030/708249

Project closed

EC signature date 7 March 2016

Start date 1 October 2016

End date 30 September 2019

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 248 063,40

EU contribution

€ 248 063,40

Coordinated by

THE PROVOST, FELLOWS, FOUNDATION SCHOLARS & THE OTHER MEMBERS OF BOARD, OF THE COLLEGE OF THE HOLY & UNDIVIDED TRINITY OF QUEEN ELIZABETH NEAR DUBLIN
Ireland

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - GATED (Segregated education in post-conflict Bosnia and the possibilities of future conflicts in Europe)

Reporting period: 2018-10-01 to 2019-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The specific aim of the GATED project is to investigate if segregated education in post-conflict societies causes the radicalisation of youth and increases the possibilities of future conflicts.
Segregated education in Bosnia and Herzegovina was introduced by the Dayton Peace Agreement in 1995. The specific aim of the project is to investigate if two decades of segregated education in Bosnia has had a negative impact on Bosnian society by creating fertile ground for more ethnic conflicts in the future.

The important of GATED project:

Importance of Security

The conflict that happened in Bosnia was the bloodiest conflict in modern European history and the first case of genocide in Europe since the Second World War. The conflict produced an estimated 100 000 casualties of which around 38 000 were civilians and atrocities perpetrated were on such a scale that the term ‘ethnic cleansing’ was coined in relation to actions committed. In addition, 3 million people were displaced worldwide. December 2017 marked 22 years since the conflict ended, by the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement. During the past twenty two years the EU has been involved in Bosnia and Herzegovina on a continual basis. While its role changed from a peace building one, in the initial stages of the conflict recovery, to a more long-term peacekeeping one in the last decade, the EU is still present in the country. In October 2014 it renewed its mandate in order to support Bosnia as it progresses towards joining the EU. In 2010 Bosnia ratified the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) expressing its wish to join the European Union and in 2015 the Agreement entered into force. Bosnia formally applied for EU membership in 2016 and currently remains a potential candidate country. Focusing on security issues in this context is important for European Union as Bosnia hopes to join the Union in the future.

Importance of Education

GATED’s literature review and documentary analysis has shown that education is often neglected when discussing reconciliation and peacebuilding in divided societies. Instead, peacebuilding actors are mostly focused on security issues in these areas. When education is included in peacebuilding efforts most often it is in the form of conflict resolution and/or human rights awareness training.
This is an important oversight considering education’s relationship to economic, political and cultural power. The structuring of knowledge and symbol in educational institutions is intimately related to the principles of social and cultural control. Most importantly the schools are crucial sites for creation of national identity and social norms. The kinds of narratives that are being chosen as official knowledge within educational institutions tell us about what kind of society is being created.

GATED's objectives:

1) To analyse the impact segregated education has had on the graduates of the system in post-conflict society of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
2) To determine the levels of animosity between young Bosnian Muslims, Croats and Serbs in the area and the levels of radicalisation of this under-studied and neglected cohort.
3) To establish an interdisciplinary perspective bridging sociology and peace-building studies.
4) To devise a theoretical framework for understanding segregated education in post-conflict societies and to determine its role in long-term peacekeeping and conflict prevention.
5) To develop a practical toolkit containing guidance on syllabus

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Main results to date:

GATED project consists of the 3 data collection and data analysis phases. All phase have been completed with Phase II continuing into the afterlife of the project.

Phase I Curriculum Analysis

Bosnia’s education system is based upon segregation. There are separate, or fully segregated, schools for separate ethnicities and separate textbooks and separate curricula to match group identities.

• Data analysis of history and geography textbooks in Bosnia for the academic years of 2016/17 and 2017/18 shows significant inconsistencies in reporting of historical events, omissions and in some cases extreme acts of ‘othering’.
• The analysis of documentary materials related to Bosnian education system shows hugely politicised environment in which student textbooks are written, discussed and disseminated. This environment is theorised as ‘textbook politics’ and critical analysis of textbook politics has been written in a form of book chapter.
• Curriculum in the whole country of Bosnia and Herzegovina is being colonised by ethnic divisions, extreme ethnic narratives and new post-Dayton nationalism. This type of education produces and re-produces structural inequalities in Bosnia and lack of security.

Phase II Analysis on Graduate experience

Student population in Bosnia is divided along the ethnic lines. There are three main types of student profile emerging:
1. Those who support segregated education – those who support segregated education tend to fall into patterns of segregation inside and outside of the school system including peer groups, jobs and support for political parties
2. Those who do not support the current system (passive)
3. Those who do not support the current system (active) – students who are involved in protests against segregated education in Bosnia

Phase III Analysis of Educators experience

Similar to graduate experience educators can be divided into two groups

1. Those who do not support the current system - they criticise the system but are unable to change it
2. Those who do support the current system (active) – those who do are actively engaged in cultivating new nationalisms in Bosnia and show elements of ethnic discrimination


In addition to fieldwork and an ongoing literature review, documentary analysis, progress reporting and website maintenance, PI has presented GATED at 13 conferences. Also PI has i) audited 3 full term courses in University of Denver, ii) started and maintained 7 collaborations, iii) written 5 blogs, iv) is in the process of preparation of two journal articles, v) thought on 5 courses, vi) completed 6 training modules and reviewed articles for 2 journals.
PI is currently preparing a workshop which will result in edited collection.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Theoretical outcomes (progress beyond the state of the art)

1. GATED is developing critical strand of interdisciplinary research on sociology of peacebuilding
• GATED theorises Bosnia and Herzegovina as Ethnocracy
• GATED theorises segregated education in Bosnia and Herzegovina as Ethnocracy Trap
Ethnocracy is a political system in which political and social organisations are founded on ethnic belonging rather than individual choice—places where political parties are based on ethnic interest, where ethic quotas determine key posts, and where state institutions are segmented by ethnic group. In Bosnia, the Dayton Agreements institutionalized and constitutionalised extreme consociationalism. Due to this development the institution of education has fallen into ethnocracy trap.

2. GATED connects literature on civil disobedience and student protests with literature on peacebuilding and education

Practical outcomes (expected results and impact)

1) Workshop and edited collection
2) Two publications
3) Collaboration with FMON (Federal Ministry of education and Science in Bosnia) on Guidance Toolkit
4) Consolidation of the project Afterlife

bosnia-post-conflict.jpg