To read this content please select one of the options below:

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Upstanders and Moral Obedience

Peace, Reconciliation and Social Justice Leadership in the 21st Century

ISBN: 978-1-83867-196-9, eISBN: 978-1-83867-193-8

Publication date: 23 September 2019

Abstract

The 1990s war in Bosnia and Herzegovina is remembered for the atrocities committed by each of the ethnic groups involved. However, while it was mainly the leaders that were held to blame, the role of followers in these events also needs consideration. One cannot lead without followers. One cannot accomplish genocide without obedient followers. This study will examine the war in terms of three types of followers – participants, bystanders, and upstanders (those who stood up for their beliefs of right and wrong, refusing to obey orders from superiors or give in to the pressures of the situation). Studies in the past, such as the Milgram Experiment and the Stanford Prison Experiment, focused on the negative side of human behavior. We need to also focus research on the positive side of human behavior such as that displayed by the upstanders, so that such positive behavior can be encouraged and further developed in the interests of peace.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments

The author would like to acknowledge Dr Svetlana Broz, whose book inspired this chapter, and whose help was vital to this work.

Citation

Pascoe, B.C. (2019), "Bosnia and Herzegovina: Upstanders and Moral Obedience", Peace, Reconciliation and Social Justice Leadership in the 21st Century (Building Leadership Bridges, Vol. 8), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 193-205. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2058-880120190000008012

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited