Political discourse in Bosnia and Herzegovina is dominated by inflammatory rhetoric, divisive and derogatory narratives, generated by politicians who exploit it for their self-interests. Politicians, often and with impunity, resort to hate speech, even though this is a criminal act. In a transitional country such as BiH, where democracy is exercised selectively and consequences of war still visible, the widespread use of aggressive language and war-mongering fuels the fears of violence, deepens the political polarisation and destroys social cohesion. The inflammatory rhetoric in BiH leads not only to rise of intolerance and tensions among citizens and communities, but also to the deteriorated security and proliferation of hate-motivated incidents.
Through this project, Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) in Bosnia and Herzegovina seeks to contribute to a decrease in political actors using divisive narratives and hate speech in political discourse in BiH that destabilise the country and make it vulnerable to external influences. In this effort, we will be engaging political parties, media and civil society and addressing the structural causes that lead to use of divisive narrative and a climate of fear and insecurity.
Our support for the decrease of detrimental rhetoric and creation of a more constructive, collaborative and inclusive political discourse includes initiating three critical changes in political life. Primarily, we will jointly work with political actors to improve our political culture and processes which allow and even incentivize such rhetoric. We will partner with civil society actors to increase, from different angles, pressure against detrimental political discourse. In an environment where civil society is more holistically and skillfully raising awareness, monitoring and responding to detrimental rhetoric, the political actors are likely to be discouraged from using it. Finally, to counterbalance polarizing and dysfunctional political discourse, we will support and bring to the fore collaboration of political actors around common issues for citizens.