Social Mobilization Beyond Ethnicity

Based on deep historical knowledge and a rich ethnographic analysis of protests in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chiara Milan convincingly demonstrates that, in ethnically divided society, social movements mobilizing for social justice might help the (re)building of shared collective identities. - Donatella della Porta, Scuola Normale Superiore Firenze, Italy. During pessimistic thoughts on my country, I can see only divided society transcending into the three separated communities and no force to bridge the divide. During less depressing observations, I also see the potential for ethnicity to be marginalized. This dichotomy exists in Bosnia-Herzegovina, but a question remains who and what makes social mobilization beyond ethnicity possible? Chiara Milan's book is an excellent starting point in the quest to find out. - Neven Andelic, Regent's University London, UK. The book offers an important insight into how social movements mobilize in multinational societies, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina. Through multiple waves of protests, citizens have come together, disregarding the rigid national division that has characterized post-war politics. Chiara Milan carefully shows when and how such a social movements became possible and what their limitations have been. It is an excellent study informed by careful research and a sympathetic, yet critical, analysis of inclusive social movements in a critical context such as Bosnia. - Florian Bieber, University of Graz, Austria. Milan's book fills a significant empirical and conceptual gap in the extant scholarship. It engages with a key theme in the contentious politics literature: how does a momentum for change build, what legacies are passed from action to action, activist to activist? In this case, the focus is the emergence of non-ethnicised social movement activism in post-war Bosnia-Herzegovina - a more fascinating and relevant case study is hard to imagine. - Adam Fagan, King's College London, UK.