Return Dynamics in Bosnia¹and Croatia: A Comparative Analysis

More than ten years after the end of the conflicts in Bosnia and Croatia, this paper examines the process of return of the displaced to their homes, offering a comparison of factors affecting the process in the two countries. The first section sketches the nature and modality of obstruction to minority return in places of origin, describing some of the ways in which politicized obstruction has interacted with other conditions in return locations. The second section looks at the impact on the return process of conditions in places of refuge, examining how particular circumstances of their displacement have differently affected questions of mobilization and representation among displaced communities. In particular, some observations are made about the relationships between the displaced communities and the authorities in the various places of refuge, and about the effect that these relationships have had on the approach taken to the question of return by the different communities. In the final section a comparison is made of the nature of international intervention to support minority returns in the two countries, arguing that considerably more resources, attention, and diplomatic pressure were focused on the question of minority return to Bosnia than to Croatia. Some possible explanations for this include the burden on third countries of large numbers of Bosnian refugees, the perceived peace‐building imperative behind minority returns in Bosnia, and the attempt to redress the highly visible failures of the international community in preventing ethnic cleansing there. These factors are absent in the Croatian context, and it is argued that the corresponding lack of attention to minority return there demonstrates an inconsistency behind the moral claim made by international actors in upholding the right to return. The paper concludes by commenting on the effect of the combination of these factors on individual displaced persons and refugees, and on the parallels that can be drawn with other situations of forced migration, specifically Kosovo (Republic of Serbia). 3 Current opportunities to redress some of the inconsistencies in approach and outstanding obstacles to return are highlighted.