Pragmatic peace : the UNTAES peacekeeping mission as example for peaceful reintegration of occupied multiethnic territories

Abstract

Twenty years after the armed conflict in Croatia ended with the completion of the Peaceful Reintegration of the Danube region on 15 January 1998, the war still echoes in the Croatian society. In contrast, the United Nations Transitional Administration (UNTAES), one of the most successful UN peacekeeping missions, is rarely subject to societal debate. What contributed to the mission’s success was that besides the reintegration of the formerly occupied territory, the region’s predominantly Serb population was reintegrated too. Against the background of official commemorations of military operations and lack of emphasis of the Peaceful Reintegration as Croatia’s successful peace initiative, the author wants to bring out the significance of the UNTAES by shedding light on the circumstances that eventually created stable peace in Croatia. Moreover, given the rise of interethnic tensions that particularly affect the Serb minority, the evaluation and research of the Peaceful Reintegration gives answers as to whether the Croatian state genuinely intended to reintegrate the region’s population. The case study on the divided organisation of schooling investigates whether there are implications of the Peaceful Reintegration on today’s population in the Danube Region with the example of Vukovar’s pupils of Croatian and of Serb ethnicity.

Keywords: UNTAES; UN Peacekeeping; Peaceful Settlement of Armed Conflicts; Peaceful Reintegration; Eastern Slavonia; Croatia; Conflict Settlement; Yugoslavia; Reconciliation; Divided Schooling.