Struggling for and within the community: what leads Bosnian forced migrants to desire community return?

Abstract

The authors seek to explain the desire for community return by displaced persons in Bosnia. They find a key difference between the minorities displaced from the urban and rural parts of Bosnia. While the rural displaced tend to value community returns, the urban displaced are unlikely to do so; hence the generally low success rate of urban returns in post-war Bosnia. Family dynamics seems to influence community returns, as the decision to return often seems to be made by families, not isolated individuals. Finally, less nationalistic displaced persons seem more interested in return into a minority situation than more nationalistic ones.