Table Of ContentRETHINKING PEACE AND CONFLICT STUDIES
Series Editor: Oliver P. Richmond
Gender and 
Citizenship
Promises of Peace in Post-Dayton 
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Maria-Adriana Deiana
Rethinking Peace and Conflict Studies
Series Editor
Oliver P. Richmond  
University of Manchester  
Manchester, UK
This agenda-setting series of research monographs, now more than a 
decade old, provides an interdisciplinary forum aimed at advancing inno-
vative new agendas for approaches to, and understandings of, peace and 
conflict studies and International Relations. Many of the critical volumes 
the series has so far hosted have contributed to new avenues of analysis 
directly or indirectly related to the search for positive, emancipatory, and  
hybrid forms of peace. New perspectives on peacemaking in practice 
and in theory, their implications for the international peace architecture, 
and different conflict-affected regions around the world, remain crucial. 
This series’ contributions offers both theoretical and empirical insights 
into many of the world’s most intractable conflicts and any subsequent 
attempts to build a new and more sustainable peace, responsive to the 
needs and norms of those who are its subjects.
More information about this series at  
http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14500
Maria-Adriana Deiana
Gender  
and Citizenship
Promises of Peace in Post-Dayton  
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Maria-Adriana Deiana
School of Law and Government
Dublin City University
Dublin, Ireland
Rethinking Peace and Conflict Studies
ISBN 978-1-137-59377-1   ISBN 978-1-137-59378-8  (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59378-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018938312
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018
The author(s) has/have asserted their right(s) to be identified as the author(s) of this work 
in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the 
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights 
of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction 
on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and 
retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology 
now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this 
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are 
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and 
information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. 
Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, 
with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have 
been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published 
maps and institutional affiliations.
Printed on acid-free paper
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Macmillan 
Publishers Ltd. part of Springer Nature 
The registered company address is: The Campus, 4 Crinan Street, London, N1 9XW, 
United Kingdom
A
cknowledgements
This book is dedicated to the women in Bosnia and Herzegovina who 
contributed in many different ways to the process of completing this 
study, taking the time and trouble to meet me during successive research 
trips and allowing me to make this project possible. My deepest thanks 
go to all those who kindly accepted to share their personal stories, their 
energy, expertise, knowledge and passion. Our conversations were truly 
invaluable not only for this study but also as a learning personal expe-
rience. I hope I have managed to retell your stories with sensitivity and 
respect. Any mistakes have made are my own.
I have been reflecting on the themes of this book for a decade and 
I am grateful to many people who inspired and shaped the project 
throughout the years. The book began as a Ph.D. project at Queen’s 
University Belfast where I was lucky to be surrounded by wonderful 
mentors, colleagues and lifetime friends. Of all the people who inspired 
and supported the project along the way, my greatest debt is to my 
supervisors, Yvonne Galligan and Debbie Lisle, who offered feedback 
and encouragement for the thesis that laid the foundation for this book. 
Special acknowledgements are due to other colleagues and friends who 
also inspired my thinking and cheered for this project. Heartfelt thanks 
for their continuous support and friendship throughout these years to 
Shinhyung Choi, Merita Zecović, Laura Mills, Rowan Lubbock and 
Paddy McQueen. I am thankful to others who read and offered com-
ments on my work at various stages, Roz Goldie, Sara Clavero, Danielle 
Roberts,  Sasha  Roseneil,  Cynthia  Cockburn,  Allison  McCulloch  and 
v
vi    ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Siobhan Byrne, as well as Cathal McCall and Miranda Alison who exam-
ined my Ph.D. thesis. Giulia Carabelli has inspired me and encouraged 
me to finally put the manuscript into shape, taking the time and trou-
ble to read my work on many occasions and offering endless reassurance. 
A special mention to Yvonne Galligan for her continuous support and 
guidance in navigating post-PhD life.
Since  my  involvement  as  a  co-convener  of  the  BISA  South  East 
Europe working group, I have been lucky to be part of a network of 
great scholars. I thank my colleagues in the convening team, Catherine 
Baker, Daniela Lai and Natalie Martin, for the inspiring conversations, 
research and ideas we are able to share. I also wish to thank the amazing 
activists of Belfast Feminist Network and Alliance for Choice in Belfast. 
When writing this book, I realised how much you have enriched my rela-
tionship to feminist activism and taught me about intersectional politics 
as practice.
In Bosnia I was overwhelmed with the generosity of the many won-
derful people whom I met along the way, including Elma Tataragić, 
Lejla Somun-Krupalija, Esther G. Fransioli, Linda Johansson, Melina 
Sadiković, Valentina Pellizzer, Danijela and the Crvena activists. I thank 
Jakov Čaušević and Sanja Rašević, as collaborators and friends, for their 
invaluable help with translations and with arranging interviews. I thank 
Sandra Dukić for allowing me to include her artwork in the book. I 
thank Mela Žuljević and the ABART team for research support, for 
allowing me to include photos from the project “Recollecting Mostar” in 
the book, as well as for friendship.
I was able to complete this manuscript at the Institute for International 
Conflict Resolution and Reconstruction at Dublin City University. I am 
thankful to Ken McDonagh and John Doyle for hosting my fellowship 
and fostering this project. I thank my colleagues at the Institute and in 
the School of Law and Government for welcoming me at DCU and, 
especially, Aurelie Sicard, Paola Rivetti, Erika Biagini, Tajma Kapic, Maira 
Zeinilova and Jules Gaspard for friendship and companionship.
I am lucky to be surrounded by the love of my family and friends in 
my  hometown,  Sardinia,  Dublin/Kildare,  Liverpool  and  Belfast.  My 
parents, Giovanna Frau and Gianni Deiana, have offered unconditional 
support and love. All you have taught me stood me in good stead as 
I embarked in the project. No words can describe how much Gordon 
Kavanagh has done through his care, love and endless support. Thank 
you for always believing I could do this.
c
ontents
1  Revisiting Dayton: Unfinished (Feminist) International 
Relations    1
2  Trajectories of Women’s Citizenship from Socialism  
to the Bosnian War    45
3  The Politics of Not/Belonging: Making Sense  
of Post-Dayton Exclusions    69
4  Women’s Personal Narratives and the Multi-layered 
Legacies of War    105
5  Collective Visions for Citizenship and Challenges  
of Transversal Politics as Practice    137
6  Is Another Citizenship Possible? Hopeful Political 
Practices in the Post-Dayton Impasse    167
7  Conclusions    199
Index    213
vii
l    f
ist of igures
Fig. 6.1  “Pieces of Advice” Udaj se! Get Married! Sandra  
Dukić (2007)    181
Fig. 6.2  “Rađaj!” (Have Children!) from  “Pieces of Advice”  
Sandra Dukić, 2007    182
Fig. 6.3  “Pranje/Washing”, Gordana Anđelić-Galić  
(courtesy of ABART archive)    186
Fig. 6.4  “Pranje/Washing”, Gordana Anđelić-Galić  
(courtesy of ABART archive)    187
ix
CHAPTER 1
Revisiting Dayton: Unfinished (Feminist) 
International Relations
In February 2014 citizens protests were being held in the streets of 
Sarajevo and other cities in Bosnia, such as Tuzla, Mostar, and Zenica. 
Together with other episodes of popular upheaval in 2012 and 2013, the 
protests had seen unprecedented popular mobilization since the end of 
the war. The mobilization involved the organization of citizens’ assem-
blies, plenums, as instruments of radical democracy. Another event coin-
cided with the protests in Sarajevo. Under the auspices of the Woman’s 
International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), women activ-
ists from Syria travelled to Sarajevo as prospects about a second round 
of UN led peace talks with the Assad government emerged. WILPF was 
keen to lobby the UN for the inclusion of women’s groups in the nego-
tiation process and to bring activists together to strategize (Rees 2015; 
Enloe 2017). In Sarajevo, the Syrian women met fellow Bosnian and 
international activists who shared their experiences of outliving conflict 
and tirelessly demanding to be acknowledged as co-architects in their 
respective peace processes and peace negotiations. Reporting from these 
series of encounters, Cynthia Cockburn points out how similar concerns 
animated the Bosnian women’s activists and protesters in their common 
dissatisfaction with two decades of so-called peace (Cockburn 2014). 
They shared anger and frustration at how the peace process had worked 
to entrench the power of ethno-nationalist elites through a highly com-
plex system of multi-level governance and group rights provisions that 
marked ethnicity as the all-encompassing dimensions of post-conflict 
© The Author(s) 2018  1
M.-A. Deiana, Gender and Citizenship,  
Rethinking Peace and Conflict Studies, 
https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59378-8_1