Abstract
The article explores Milorad Dodik’s rhetoric and nationalist discourse in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). It seeks to shed light on the intricacies of the politics of the current Serb member of the tripartite Presidency of BiH by analyzing a number of television interviews and the speeches Dodik delivered at the celebration of the RS Day on January 9, 2017–2020. Unfortunately, BiH continues its struggle with divisive identity politics, which perpetuates the nationalist paradigm of the nation. Identity politics plays an integral part in the construction of “we” versus “them,” and underlies the lack of a “national identity.” The analysis will reveal Dodik’s political strategies and offer a glimpse into his ideology and views of BiH as well as his vision and long-term objectives for the Republika Srpska (RS). Moreover, the article examines linguistic practices and seeks to answer the following research questions: how does Dodik view BiH, and what are his long-term goals for RS? Has identity politics influenced the emergence of referendums in RS? What could the referendums proposed and already held in the RS mean for the future of BiH and its national identity?
Funding
The paper was written as part of the research project “Perspektivy evropské integrace v kontextu globální politiky II” at Masaryk University (MUNI/A/1044/2019).
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