Why small ethnic minorities participate in politics: comparing Jews and Poles in Bosnia and Herzegovina

ABSTRACT In ethnically divided consociational societies small minorities opt for different channels of political participation. They may do so to increase the importance of their group or challenge the consequences of limited participation channels, thus navigating the exclusion-amid-inclusion dilemma. However, it remains unclear how and why individuals belonging to small ethnic minorities with limited political opportunities, engage in politics. This article aims to explore and explain the levels of political participation of Jews and Poles in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It seeks to understand why some members of these communities choose to participate actively while others engage only in voting practices or refrain from getting involved. This is outlined using four different criteria: whether the act communicates a message about an individual’s political preference, the potential degree of conflict, the effort put into the activity and the degree of cooperation with other people involved in the action. The qualitative analysis of this study relies on a series of semi-structured interviews and focus-groups conducted among the two ethnic communities.