Civic Mobilization in Divided Societies and the Perils of Political Engagement: Bosnia and Herzegovina's Protest and Plenum Movement

Abstract

This article explores how civic mobilizations that emerge in deeply divided societies navigate their ethnopolitical frameworks and assesses their capacity to effect civic political change within such contexts. The article examines these questions through the case of a citizens’ protest and direct democracy movement that emerged in the postwar state of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2014. It concludes that the movement adapted to its ethnicized political environment by adopting an approach of limited political engagement and that, rather than trying to effect short-term political change, it chose to pursue a long-term shift in civic consciousness.