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Ethnic Groups Ww1

Decent Essays

Western stated that, “The brutal ethnic cleansing carried out during the war was never completed, and many villages still contain pockets of minority ethnic groups.” Since the ethnic cleansing was never finished, the Muslims that still existed and became a minority ethnic group. They could not be mixed into the population to create a diverse society unless the government passed laws allowing them to be or if the superior ethnic groups accepted them into their society. The violence used during the war destroyed the hopes for making Bosnia diverse. As verified by Black, “Although Bosnian Serbs, Bosnian Croats, and Bosnian Muslims had been able to live together for decades, the bloodshed of the 1990s nearly destroyed hopes for a multiethnic Bosnia.” …show more content…

The international community was now in its weakest position since the ethnic groups challenged the Dayton structure. McMahon and Western explained that, “As a result, the international community is now in its weakest position since the war’s end, with factions from all three ethnic groups now challenging the Dayton structure.” Due to many causes such as the failed efforts at constitutional reform, the declining international security, and the loss of the Office of the High Representative’s credibility, the ethnic groups could not come together to form a diverse society since they were now in their weakest position. The separation of the ethnic groups challenged the Dayton structure, which was meant to help their society. Annex VII was never fully implemented and returnees were never be able to return to their homes since their areas were now controlled by another ethnic group. As validated by Dahlman and Tuathail, “Few, however, believed that Annex VII would never be fully implemented or that persons would return to homes in areas now controlled by another ethnic group (Ito 2001).” The refugees were stuck living in collection centers, small apartments, and temporary collective settlements since the etho-nationalistic parties in Bosnia dominated the ethnically cleansed areas. Due to the failure to implement Annex …show more content…

Bosnia was still trying to create a multiethnic state, but the political institutions already supported ethnic partition in the government. As asserted by McMahon and Western, “Although Bosnia professes to seek the creation of a unified multi ethnic state, its political institutions support ethnic partition at every level of government.” The politicians of Bosnia wanted the government to be diverse on all levels, but they were still trying to create a diverse society at the same time. Ethnic partition in the government was also supported by the nationalist parties in Bosnia. As advocated by Black, “The elections were held without violence, but the results were a victory for the nationalist parties who wanted to maintain the ethnic partition of the country.” The result of the election was a new three person presidency with each president from a different ethnic group. The nationalist parties saw this as a victory because they supported ethnic partition in the government. Although people in Bosnia supported a diverse government, the country was still broken. Dahlman and Tuathail described that, “Without cooperation from the local authorities to reverse the wartime property laws, returnees to other areas could not re-establish possession over their

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