Outbreak of war memories? Historical analogies of the 1990s wars in discourses about the coronavirus pandemic in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia

Abstract

ABSTRACT The article examines how historical analogies and collective memories of the 1990s wars figured in public discussions during the first wave of the coronavirus crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. The research is based on the analysis of political speeches, media articles and social networks posts, examining the presence – or absence – of war analogies in these sources in the first period of the coronavirus pandemic, from mid-March 2020 to mid-May 2020. The article examines in which ways historical analogies referring to the 1990s wars were used during the coronavirus pandemic in two societies which have a recent war experience. By analysing to what extent and in which ways analogies to the war were used in political and societal discourses in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, this article adds to the existing literature on the use of historical analogies by focusing on the use of war analogies in societies where the war is not an abstract reference, but a recent, lived experience.