Literature Review

Having an identity is an important aspect of being human; Erikson (Reference Erikson1968, 130) states that “ … in the social jungle of human existence there is no feeling of being alive without a sense of identity.” According to Phinney (Reference Phinney1996, 143), the study of ethnic identity emphasizes how individual group members understand and interpret their own identity. Ethnic saliency refers to how important their ethnic identity is to them (Roberts et al. Reference Roberts, Phinney, Masse, Chen, Roberts and Romero1999). According to identity formation theory, ethnic saliency is the outcome of ethnic identity search (Phinney Reference Phinney, Bernal and Knight1993). From the perspective of social psychology, ethnic identity is a part of social identity, which Tajfel (Reference Tajfel1981, 255) defines as “ … that part of an individual’s self-concept which derives from his knowledge of his membership of a social group (or groups) together with the value and emotional significance attached to that membership.” Related to the idea of identity being a self-concept, Marcia (Reference Marcia and Adelson1980, 159) argues that identity is a “self-structure,” defined as being “ … an internal, self-constructed, dynamic organization of drives, abilities, beliefs, and individual history.”

The concept and process of identity formation does not begin or end during adolescence, but adolescence is a time period that is much more critical than other periods of life for identity formation (Marcia Reference Marcia and Adelson1980, 160). Identity formation in adolescence may be influenced by a number of socialization agents, such as the mass media (Zaller Reference Zaller, Mutz, Sniderman and Brody1996), families (Bringa Reference Bringa1995, 84; Erikson Reference Erikson1968), and schools (Ehman Reference Ehman1980; Gellner Reference Gellner1983, 34; Roper Reference Roper2005; Torsti Reference Torsti2007). The process in which all of this occurs is known as “ethnic socialization,” which refers to the manner in which young people “ … acquire the behaviors, perceptions, values, and attitudes of an ethnic group, and come to see themselves and others as members of such groups” (Rotheram and Phinney Reference Rotheram, Phinney, Phinney and Rotheram1987, 11). Anderson (Reference Anderson2006) refers to such a group, the nation, as an “imagined community.”

School education is supposed to serve as a unifying factor and socialization agent among citizens of a state, teaching them who they are (e.g., national identity; Bartulović Reference Bartulović2006) and what their country expects of them (e.g., civic duties of the citizen; Baranović Reference Baranović2001; Oder Reference Oder2005). The role of the educational system is important for the state in building an identity and patriotism among students.Footnote ⁵ Schools also affect conceptualization of student identity because school education is a central form of political and ethnic socialization for young people (Roper Reference Roper2005, 503; Torsti Reference Torsti2007, 92), and schools in postwar societies serve as a particularly strong socialization agent (Ajduković and Biruški Reference Ajduković and Čorkalo-Biruški2008). In the context of the Soviet nationalities policy, Gorenburg (Reference Gorenburg2001, 74) states that “[b]y establishing separate systems of native language education for most of the minority ethnic groups that had their own ethno-territorial administrative units, the Soviet government in effect created an institution dedicated to instilling a common and separate identity among the students.” Wertsch (Reference Wertsch2000) and Worden (Reference Worden2014) argue the opposite of Gorenburg (Reference Gorenburg2001), claiming that the role of schools is limited as a vehicle of socialization in the Soviet and post-Soviet contexts.

When schools become divided along ethnic lines, such as in BiH, children have limited opportunity to meet and have contact with others across the ethnic divide. In such circumstances, students are socialized to not interact with the “other;” this therefore prevents inter-cultural contact from occurringFootnote ⁶ in such schools, as first put forth by Allport (Reference Allport1958). In postwar ethnically divided communities, such as in Vukovar, Croatia, the “ … children grow up within a context loaded with social signs saying the community wants you to stay within your own ethnic group” (Ajduković and Biruški Reference Ajduković and Čorkalo-Biruški2008, 340). Indeed, the central concept of socialization theory is that educational institutions transmit norms, values, and models of behavior which are considered appropriate in a given society. Niemi and Hepburn (Reference Niemi and Hepburn1995, 6) argue that the high school years should hold great interest for political scientists in particular, because “ … it is then that society makes the most explicit and concentrated effort to teach political knowledge and civic values.” Quaynor (Reference Quaynor2012, 33; 40–41) explores trends in post-conflict citizenship education, where four broad trends were found: “ … avoidance of controversial issues, the unique role of ethnicity, a lack of trust in political parties, and authoritarianism.”

In newly democratizing states, the automatic transmission of democratic ideals, which is taken for granted in the United States, cannot be taken for granted in societies that are in transition; for as Niemi and Hepburn (Reference Niemi and Hepburn1995, 9) state: “…it cannot be readily assumed that education institutions or families will teach the appropriate knowledge and values” necessary to support a democratic polity. ^{Footnote 7} In post-conflict societies, schools serve as “ … a site in which the politics of accountability and acknowledgment are played out,” whereby they teach “ … the history that led up to the conflict” (Sivac-Bryant Reference Sivac-Bryant2008, 107, 115). In the case of the emerging democracies of postcommunist Eastern Europe and the Balkans, an understanding of the political socialization process can be done by examining the textbooks used in such classes as civics, history, and even geography – where the pedagogy used is part of the socialization process. Nationalist discourse may be found in the classrooms, where students are taught in an ethno-centric environment (Baranović Reference Baranović2001; Bartulović Reference Bartulović2006; Korostelina Reference Korostelina2010; Murgescu Reference Murgescu2002, 92, 96–97). Understanding the impact of schools is especially important in BiH, since the country has three truths and three official versions of history, based on ethnicity.Footnote ⁸

Outside of the formal classroom, McFarland and Thomas (Reference McFarland and Thomas2006, 412, 418, 421) find that four specific high school extra-curricular associations are politically salient in encouraging political participation as adults, even seven to twelve years after high school graduation: student government (SGA), community service organizations, performing arts (debate club, drama club, or music), and religious organizations. Youniss et al. (Reference Youniss, McLellan and Yates1997, 629) also find that American students who participated in high school government are put “ … on a developmental path toward constructive citizenship.” Those who were SGA members were more likely to become members of civic organizations compared to those who were not involved in high school governance (Youniss et al. Reference Youniss, McLellan and Yates1997, 620). This is because these students, along with those who participated in civic community service projects, observe that “ … their individual and collective actions make a difference by producing effects that have an impact on the high school and wider local community” (Youniss et al. Reference Youniss, McLellan and Yates1997, 624). Hanks and Eckland (Reference Hanks and Eckland1978) found that participation in high school government or some other extra-curricular activity in high school was the strongest predictor of adult membership in civic associations.

In his study of regional governments in Italy, Putnam (Reference Putnam1993) found that 19th century civic traditions (if present), served as powerful predictors of 20th century effective, representative government at the regional level. He found that in order for democracy to work, the establishment of social capital is necessary (Putnam Reference Putnam1993, 185); where individuals do not possess the virtues or character of the vita civile, republics cannot be sustained (Putnam Reference Putnam1993, 132). Alexis de Tocqueville made a similar observation in regards to what makes democracy work in America at its founding: civic associationalism. For de Tocqueville, it was the robustness of civil society in America that allowed for republican, representative democracy to succeed in the U.S., while failing in his native France and the rest of Europe at the time. It is through civil society that social capital is built and sustained. In the 1830s, he observed that:

The social and political implications of this civic-ness relate to the institutionalization of strong democratic governance and civil society, where the causal arrow points in both directions: civic culture and democracy support and build off of one another. Inglehart (Reference Inglehart1990, 22–25) finds similar support for the notion of civil society and democracy, drawing a relationship with the emergence of a “civic political culture” and interpersonal trust. The idea of the civic culture is thus: individuals in a society must be able to trust one another, which allows them to form civic organizations, which eventually leads to democracy (Almond and Verba Reference Almond and Verba1989).

In regards to civil society in postcommunist states, organizational membership is consistently lower compared to other states due to a mistrust of communist organizationsFootnote ⁹ as well as general disappointment in the postcommunist systems (Howard Reference Howard2002). In the context of BiH, Perry (Reference Perry2009, 40) argues that civil society has not been able to take root because “ … voters make ballot choices not based on whether one party or another is making improvements in their lives but based solely on fear driven by nationalist party campaigning.” For Belloni (Reference Belloni2001, 173) this is due to the fact that politics in BiH is constitutionally based on ethnicity; when this is the case, “ … civil society tends to have little ability to influence events on the political level or to invoke a change toward multi-ethnicity and tolerance.” A weak postcommunist civil society does not, however, mean that democracy is in danger (Howard Reference Howard2002). In an empirical study conducted in May 1999 on civics education and the Project Citizen (Projekat građanin / Ja građanin) programFootnote ¹⁰ in BiH, Soule (Reference Soule2000, 19) found that students who participated in Project Citizen had greater political tolerance compared to students who did not participate in the program. Participation in Project Citizen also “ … positively affects skills and knowledge, and, to a lesser extent, attitudes and values that are supportive of democracy” (Soule Reference Soule2000, 19).

In another study conducted in September 2000 and April 2001 in four cantons (two majority Bosniak and two majority Croat), Soule (Reference Soule2002, 21) found participation in Project Citizen made students more interested in politics compared to those who did not participate in the program. These findings provide some hope for BiH, but according to the most recent data on interpersonal trust in BiH, derived from the “European Values Study / World Values Survey 2017-2021 Report” (EVS/WVS 2017–2021 Report), it was found that only 9.6% of BiH citizens believed “most people could be trusted” (EVS/WVS 2017–2021, 172). Prior to the Joint EVS/WVS 2017–2021 Survey, the second-most recent data came from the 1999–2004 World Values Survey (Wave 4); in Wave 4, it was found that only 15.6% of BiH citizens believed “most people can be trusted” (WVS 1999–2004 Survey, 22). A lack of interpersonal trust, low social capital, and politics rooted in ethnicity may lead one to conclude that civic pride would be low among high school students in BiH. The exception would be among Bosniaks and self-identifying Bosnians, since they view BiH as their “homeland” and do not have an external “parent state” or “external homeland” to turn to.

Data and Methodology

Data was gathered via field surveys of high school seniors in BiH during the 2012–2013 academic year, using the Revised Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (Roberts et al. Reference Roberts, Phinney, Masse, Chen, Roberts and Romero1999; see endnote 15). Students were given the survey and answered the questions in class. The surveys were written in the Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian languages.Footnote ¹¹ A total of 5,749 paper surveys were conducted at 78 high schools in 53 cities and towns across the country. The selection of cities and towns was based on a non-probability sampling approach. Within the Federation of BiH, a total of 4,288 surveys were gathered; in Republika Srpska, a total of 1,149 surveys were gathered; and in the Brčko District of BiH, a total of 312 surveys were gathered. In regards to the three national curricula, 36 surveyed schools operated on the Bosniak curriculum, 24 on the Croatian curriculum, and 13 on the Serbian curriculum. Three schools in Brčko and four Catholic high schoolsFootnote ¹² were surveyed as well. In this study, females constituted 61.78% of the population and males constituted 38.21%. Females constituted the majority in both urban and rural schools (61.92% and 60.10%, respectively; fieldwork by Becker Reference Becker2015.

Student responses to two questions are the focus of this article. The first question asked the student was “How proud are you to be a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina?” Students had the following response options: (1) not at all proud, (2) not very proud, (3) quite proud, or (4) very proud. The mean BiH civic pride scoreFootnote ¹³ among students who self-identified as Bosniak (Sunni Muslim), Croat (Roman Catholic), Serb (Serbian Orthodox), or Bosnian (civic identity) is 2.67 (n=5,305). The second response question was student national self-identification, in which they were asked to provide the national self-identification of themselves and of their parents. Students were given the following response options: (1) Bosniak, (2) Croat, (3) Serb, (4) Bosnian, (5) Roma, or (6) Other. If respondents chose “Other,” they had the option to write in a national or ethnic group of their choice. For schools in the Brčko District of BiH, it was required to modify possible self-identification responses by the Brčko District of BiH Department of Education in order to carry out the survey in their schools.Footnote ¹⁴ This article focuses on students who self-identified as being either Bosniak, Croat, Serb, or Bosnian.

Stata 12.1 was used to conduct four Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regressions, with Bosnian-Herzegovinian civic pride (BiH Pride) as the dependent variable. The independent variable “ethnic saliency” is derived from the “affirmation, belonging, and commitment” subscale factor of the Revised Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (Roberts et al. Reference Roberts, Phinney, Masse, Chen, Roberts and Romero1999).Footnote ¹⁵ The independent variables are ethnic saliency, whether or not the school is located in an urban or rural area (Urban), and student gender (Male). See Table 1 for the results of the regressions. Please see the Appendix for the survey items. My models are:

Table 1.

Civic Pride among High School Students in Bosnia and Herzegovina

(Standard errors in parentheses)

+p<0.10 *p<0.05 **p<0.01 ***p<0.001

Conclusions and Policy Recommendations

This article attempts to explore the link between education and democracy in a postwar society; it illustrates the complexity of a situation where ethnic identity can assume dominance. The institutionalization of the ethnic over the civic identity is the norm, with no changes in sight.Footnote ²² The current pedagogical implementation of instilling a civic identity is lacking in the country, although the Project Citizen program offered through Civitas BiH has helped in fostering tolerance and support for democracy. Formal civics education in BiH must be expanded beyond teaching the general democratic process and current government structures in the country. The notion of a “Bosnian-Herzegovinian” civic identity must be taught as well if the country is to experience true democratic consolidation. This goes beyond revising the current civics course, however; the manner in which other subjects are taught must be changed as well. Instilling a civic identity through teaching a common history should be introduced as well. This would involve revising the current National Group of Subjects (NPP), a matter that is closely tied to ethnic politics and ethnic identity – and constitutionally protected as a vital national interest, thus making it an “ethnic security dilemma.”Footnote ²³ The reason education becomes an “ethnic security dilemma” in BiH is because school education is an agent of socialization.

The three national curricula could be sustainable in a positive manner, however, if reconciliation is included in the school learning environment. Indeed, the wider research dataset from which this article draws upon has shown that the divided schooling and ethno-centric lessons do not have the effects that previous qualitative research and “policy experts” from the international community in BiH have claimed; the majority of BiH students are actually willing to interact and be friends with those from a different ethnonational group.Footnote ²⁴ This willingness amongst students must be built into interpersonal trust and a civic identity, however, in order for democratic consolidation to truly occur in BiH. Willingness for interaction and friendship is the first step, however. Inglehart (Reference Inglehart1990, 22–25) also draws a relationship with the emergence of a “civic political culture” and interpersonal trust. Identity is currently a zero-sum game for ethnic elites and is used for nationalist party campaigning (Mujkić and Hulsey Reference Mujkić and Hulsey2010). Identity should not be a zero-sum game; indeed, it is possible for citizens to have multiple identities if promoted and taught in schools: civic, ethnic, regional, etc. An example of promoting civic-ness may be seen in the case of the de facto independent, but unrecognized (except by the Republic of Turkey) Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), in which ethno-centric and ethnonationalist history textbooks and lessons were changed to promote civic-ness (a Cypriot “territorial” identity) along with co-existence and reconciliation (Vural and Özuyanık Reference Vural and Özuyanık2008). A similar undertaking in the Republic of Cyprus by the Greek-Cypriots has yet to occur, however (Vural and Özuyanık Reference Vural and Özuyanık2008, 150). The findings of Dembinska (Reference Dembinska2017) confirm those of Vural and Özuyanık (Reference Vural and Özuyanık2008), in that the educational shift allowed for a civic-territorial identity to emerge and co-exist with an ethnic-Turkish identity.

What does the TRNC example mean for BiH? It shows that reconciliation and the promotion of a shared civic identity is possible in a post-conflict society when the proper political will is present. This political will, unfortunately, is not currently present in BiH. Smith (Reference Smith2003, 30) puts it bluntly: “ … the most crucial question that citizenship education must address in a divided society is whether its citizens are committed to integrated development through shared institutions or more disposed towards a form of peaceful coexistence that involves separate development.” The phenomenon of “two schools under one roof”Footnote ²⁵ lends itself towards peaceful coexistence rather than integrated development.

Almond and Verba (Reference Almond and Verba1989, 372) claim that in order for a new country to establish a civic culture, it “ … needs both the unifying symbols and system affect that the Mexican Revolution has provided, as well as the cognitive skills that exist in Germany. There must be a symbolic event, or symbolic, charismatic leader, or some other means of creating commitment and unity at the symbolic level.” BiH currently lacks a cross-ethnic leader who is popular among the three constituent peoples, and its history is still very much political – viewed through an ethno-centric lens. Even the medieval Bosnian Kingdom cannot serve as a civic rallying point among the three groups at this point.

An expanded Project Citizen program (which was not explored in the original dataset) could help foster a deeper commitment to democratic consolidation and civic-ness, thus creating commitment and unity among the citizenry. Indeed, it has already been found that Project Citizen has positive effects on its participants in comparison to those who do not participate in the program (Soule Reference Soule2000, 19). A unifying agent or symbol must be implemented. One potential symbol has since been turned into an ethnic one, unfortunately: the fleur de lis, claimed by Bosniaks. Ultimately, the people of BiH must take the initiative for any change they wish to see; the development of a robust civil society with cross-cutting cleavages will be the key to BiH’s democratic consolidation. Unfortunately, BiH must overcome not only the problems of post-communism (Howard Reference Howard2002) but also post-conflict issues, which has been preventing the implementation of strong civics education (Niens and Chastenay Reference Niens and Chastenay2008; Quaynor Reference Quaynor2012). It is still a society deeply divided along ethnic lines, where identity is viewed as a zero-sum game. Project Citizen can be the foundation for this to occur.

Student involvement in high school governance (SGA) or other high school extra-curricular activities should also be promoted, as these are the strongest predictors of adult membership in civic associations (Hanks and Eckland Reference Hanks and Eckland1978; McFarland and Thomas Reference McFarland and Thomas2006; Youniss et al. Reference Youniss, McLellan and Yates1997). Student Government Associations must also go beyond school-related issues and promote cross-community volunteer initiatives, such as joint projects with schools of opposite ethnic groups; in towns where “two schools under one roof” exist, this would be easier to organize since the town itself is not mono-ethnic. Outside of SGA-organized activities, civic groups must also possess cross-cutting cleavages since the majority of schools do not possess multi-ethnic student bodies; otherwise, they only serve the interest of the ethnic over the civic. The citizens of BiH must decide: do they want joint development or separate co-existence with the ever present shadow of three competing ethnic security dilemmas?