Introduction - Reconciliation in the Western Balkans: New Perspectives and Proposals
Publisher: Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe Volume: 6 pages, pdf Description: Dealing with a legacy of war crimes and human rights violations is a common challenge in post-conflict societies. This is particularly the case in the Western Balkan countries in which, as Sisson (2010: 172) puts it, a “decade of internecine war in the region had left behind not only a terrible legacy of human losses and material destruction, but also an unprecedented level of traumatization among the population at large, which contributed to a widespread and generalized sense of victimhood on all sides of the conflict”. The violent conflicts cemented deep ethnic cleavages that were, as a result of peace settlements, mirrored in institutional mechanisms, which further contributed to a preservation of ethnic divides.