The ‘Paradox’ of Tuzla City: Explaining Non-nationalist Local Politics during the Bosnian War

The article investigates a critical case from the Bosnian war: the city of Tuzla, whose local government managed both to survive politically in the 1992–1995 war and to maintain its non-nationalist politics. In wartime, new political structures, legacies of the past, pre-existing institutions and networks, resources, and creative policymaking were used both for fostering and for defusing conflict. The article demonstrates that political moderation was difficult to accomplish and sustain, but it proved to be possible. The interplay of elite and grassroots agency reconstituted the political opportunity structure and policymaking was geared towards moderate politics that served to defeat powerful radical nationalist opponents.