Original scientific paper
Challenges of branding in post-conflict countries: The case of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Božo Skoko
orcid.org/0000-0002-4028-7128
; Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb, Croatia
Hrvoje Jakopović
orcid.org/0000-0002-9846-9952
; Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb, Croatia
Dejan Gluvačević
; Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Croatia
Abstract
Country branding, by which the authors imply the management of identity and image, that is, strategic communication with the global audience, is an omnipresent phenomenon. Studies have confirmed that a country's positive image is reflected in its international economic and political position. Therefore, various communication strategies, techniques and branding tools have been developed and applied by many countries. However, these strategies and techniques are not necessarily applicable for branding divided and post-conflict countries. For this reason, the paper is deals with the challenges, opportunities and methods of communication and branding Bosnia and Herzegovina, which, even twenty years after the end of the war, is still synonymous with an unstable state and a divided society. It provides an adjusted branding methodology based on an analysis of the elements of identity around which there is a consensus of all three ethnic groups - Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs, and reveals the possibilities upon which the modern brand of an European Bosnia and Herzegovina can be built. The authors pay special attention to the role of Bosnia and Herzegovina's citizens and argue that their perceptions and attitudes towards Bosnia and Herzegovina – as well as their mutual communication – have significant, if not crucial, role in the development of a branding strategy.
Keywords
branding; war; country; post-conflict countries; divisions; image; identity; tourism; Bosnia and Herzegovina
Hrčak ID:
214038
URI
Publication date:
27.12.2018.
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