The inter-ethnic conflict between Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo have persisted since the war in Kosovo in 1999, even though it has been improved in recent years. A friendly relationship between Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo is vital for the future of Kosovo, and for the security in the Balkan region. The aim with this study is to explain how the relationship between Serbs and Albanians has changed since Kosovo’s declaration of independence in 2008. Interviews have been conducted with six Serbs and six Albanians living in Kosovo. The interviews were mainly based on three key moments which were considered to have had an influence on the inter-ethnic relationship. The results from the interviews showed that these three key moments have resulted in antagonism between, but also within the two ethnic groups. However, the growth of antagonism seems to have been a consequence of how politicians and media on both sides in Kosovohave handled these key moments, rather than as a consequence of the key moments per se.

The thesis is analyzing relations between the Serb minority in Kosovo, Kosovo proper and Serbia from 2008 to 2013 by using Robert Brubaker's "Triadic Nexus" concept that defines a relation between a national minority, a nationalizing state and an external national homeland. The Triadic Nexus will be supplemented by David Smith's "Quadratic Nexus" concept with the addition of an international actor that would be the United Nations and the European Union. In the north and the southeast of Kosovo lives a huge Serb community that does not recognize Kosovo's independence since 2008. From 2008 to 2013 Kosovo authorities were trying to integrate Serb minority into Kosovo society, however in most cases unsuccessfully. Kosovo Serbs kept relations with Serbia, especially thanks to the existence of parallel Serb institutions in these parts of Kosovo. The position of the Serb minority in the Kosovo`s society is analyzed through the legal framework and their (non)integration into the administrative and political institutions of the Kosovo proper. This should provide hints if and how the Serb minority in Kosovo was or was not persecuted. The thesis further enlightens, through the analysis of the Serb minority`s integration in parallel Serb institutions, how big of a problem the parallel Serb institutions pose...

The Serbs are a national group which has been disliked by the Croats for hundreds of years. Even before Croatia became a part of Yugoslavia, the country wanted its independence. However, before and after the break up of Yugoslavia, there was a strong nationalism in the country which led to hatred towards the Serbs and the Serb minorities in Croatia. Studies have shown that minorities often are disfavoured by the majority decisions. This leads to a disadvantageous position for the minorities in the relation to the majority. The problem is how a state should compensate these groups for their disadvantageous position to be able to ensure justice and equality for all citizens within the country. The aim of this thesis is to compare Croatia’s formal national minority rights with the actual national minority rights of the Serbs and to see whether they coincide with each other. The research questions are: • What formal minority rights do Croatian Serbs have in Croatia? • What minority rights do Croatian Serbs have in reality? The method used in this study is the qualitative text analysis. The conclusion of this thesis is that Croatia has a positive attitude towards minority rights and the Serb minority, as Croatia has allocated group-differentiated rights to its national minorities. The Croatian view upon national minority rights coincides to a large extent with Will Kymlicka´s theory. Furthermore, the formal rights and the virtual rights regarding education, language, culture and proportional representation coincides to a great extent if not precisely.

no / The 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and Hercegovina (BiH) was the most violent phase of the dissolution of former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), of which, for almost 50 years, BiH was one of six constituent republics. In the course of the war BiH¿s three main ethic groups- - Muslims, Bosnian Croats and Bosnian Serbs, with active involvement of neighbouring Croatia and Serbia, fought each other in pursuit of its own vision of BiH political and territorial (re) organization. The causes and the character of the war remain contentious, the main disagreement being over the issue of whether it was a war of aggression by BiH¿s neighbours or a civil war. Essentially, it contained the elements of both, which determined the way the war was fought, the multiplicity of actors involved, and complexity of agendas played out in the course of the conflict, its settlement and peace building process. The fighting was brought to end by an intense international military and diplomatic campaign, which pushed the worrying parties into compromise none of which considered just. The task of implementing complex terms of the peace agreement was put overwhelmingly in the hands of international actors, while local parties pursued the strategy of obstruction, trying to assert their own interpretation of the peace agreement that would accommodate some of their war aims.This paper looks at war veterans associations, as one particular type of non- state actors engaged in undermining peace settlement in the specific context of BiH war. Because of their position on the continuum between combatants and outside actor, and the nature of relationship with the political leadership negotiating the peace agreement, this case could provide different insights into the issue of spoiling in the types of contemporary conflicts characterised by multiplicity of both actors and agendas, and complex strategies needed to pacify them. The paper starts by brief analysis of the political and economic goals behind the 1992-1995 war, narrowing inquiry into Bosnian Croats self- rule as a political project and goal of the strategy of spoiling pursued by Bosnian Croat war veterans associations. It then reflects on the terms of the peace agreement, indicating some of the main areas the implementation of which was actively obstructed by this group. The analysis of the war veterans association deals with their origins and the position in the Bosnian Croat post- war power structures, the sources of their funding and their official and hidden agenda. The probe into spoiling tactics focuses on three important aspects of the peace agreement i.e. refugee return, war crimes prosecution and institution building, and is followed by a brief analysis on the impact of various strategies the international community as a custodian of peace has used to sustain its implementation.

ŽÍLA, Ondřej: "Are You the One and Only Homeland I have?" Ethno-demographic Changes in Bosnia and Herzegovina 1945-2012 Abstract Thesis on "Are You the One and Only Homeland I have?" Ethno-demographic Changes in Bosnia and Herzegovina 1945-2012 analyses population development of three constitutive nations of Bosnia and Herzegovina, transformation of ethnic proportional representation of Bosnian population due to differences in demographic behaviour and spatial impacts of forced migration on population distribution after the end of the civil conflict in the 1990s. The main focus is on comparing the development of the ethno-demographic structure of socialist Bosnia and Herzegovina with the condition of the country after the war. The current demographic characteristics of the population, and contemporary ethnic composition of the country remains fundamentally affected by events related to the conflict: the so called forced migration and ethnic cleansing. The thesis compiles two fundamental approaches, one of them being the top-down approach. It focuses on the characteristics of the role of Western powers in the post-war peace-building process, specifically the analysis of their principal objective - restoration of the original ethnic heterogeneity by means of controlled repatriation of refugees, and evaluation...