Political representation in consociations: Environmental interests and their representation in divided societies

Consociations have been heralded as bringing peace and democracy to deeply-divided societies, often a state of overcoming conflict. Their success is rooted in the institutional commitment to include only the politically significant groups, the former conflict parties, in processes of peace and policy making. Like this, the consociational system places interests of minorities, newcomers and ideologically motivated citizens, all of whom are referred to as Others’, outside the process of adopting and implementing new policies and political institutions. The sidelining of non-conflict voices in the new constitutional arrangements formally and informally constraints the political representation of cross-segmental and non-dominant interests. One example within the heterogenous cluster of ‘Others’ is environmental protection. Considered a cross-segmental issue, environmental issues affect all citizens alike regardless of ethnic or religious background. Despite its prominence in global discourses, the ethnically charged consociational setting pushes environmental issues to the margins of politicization and political action. This paper addresses how environmental topics make it to the forefront of the policy process despite their secondary position in consociations. By looking through a constructivist lens at the political representation of environmental interests in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the paper will determine how and by whom environmental issues are brought to the forefront of the policy making process, and how successful these efforts are.