Diversity: Beyond Recognition in Bosnia and Refusal in France

Abstract: Diversity is a condition necessary for the building of a pluralist democratic society if it is perceived as a source of enrichment. But when its recognition proves to be partial and therefore excluding some categories of individuals from the participation in public life, diversity appears to be rather a threat than enrichment. The very opposite examples of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the one side and of France on the other side are chosen as illustration. In Bosnia and Herzegovina the constitutional recognition of the constituent peoples is limited to the three ethnic groups of Serbs, Croats and Bosniacs excluding the so-called ‚Others‘ namely from the House of Peoples and the Presidency. In France, the traditional ignorance of diversity and the concept of universal citizenship have prevented the acknowledgment of minorities and regional or minority languages. The admitted diversity being limited, it is difficult for both countries to conceive diversity as enrichment and to accede to a true pluralist society. Bosnia’s nonimplementation of the ECtHR’s judgment Sejdić and Finci as well as the continuous controversies about religious signs in France and the difficulty to enforce a real equality between men and women exemplify this statement.