EUROPEANIZATION IN SEGREGATED SCHOOLS? THIRD PARTIES’ EFFORTS TO BUILD A TRANS-ETHNIC EDUCATIONAL SPACE IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Abstract

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s European integration has been marked by persistent stagnation, particularly in education, where ethnic segregation endures despite decades of reforms and external support. Most analyses approach reconciliation from a top-down perspective, focusing on constitutional reform and EU conditionality, yet this overlooks the everyday realities of divided schooling. This article addresses that gap by examining reconciliation from a bottom-up perspective, by examining third-party efforts to build trans-ethnic educational spaces in post-conflict societies. The research adopts a qualitative case study design, triangulating European Commission progress reports (2018–2024), IPA funding allocations, and NGO project documentation. This approach investigates how EU support intersects with local agency and whether participatory practices foster sustainable change in a segregated educational landscape. Findings show that while national reforms remain blocked, micro-level initiatives yield tangible improvements in interethnic cooperation, with some schools integrating inclusive models into curricula. These outcomes highlight the potential of participatory education projects to complement stalled macro-level reforms and illustrate how bottomup approaches can plant the seeds of a trans-ethnic social fabric, offering both local benefits and pathways for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s EU accession.