Visualizing Bosnia's ethnic polarization in the wake of war

On June 2016, Bosnia & Herzegovina published the results of its 2013 population census. The census was significant because it was the first one conducted since the 1992-1995 war that gripped the country and much of the Balkans. The country's last census was conducted in 1991, one year before the country was plunged into a conflict. Given the war's ethnic issues, comparing the ethnic demographics from the two censuses is vital for understanding the post-war Bosnia

The default map which you see at the top of this page illustrates Bosnia & Herzegovina's current ethnic breakdown on the municipal level. This depiction is based on the data pulled from the 2013 census. By checking 'BiH 1991 Demographics' and 'Landmine Situation' buttons below the map, you're able to toggle the 1991 census data, as well as the current status of un-cleared landmines (a remnant of the war).

Methodology

I decided to include the landmine overlay in an effort provide an additional variable to understanding the dynamics of ethnic strife. Note how the 'landmine situation' seemingly creates the border between newly formed ethnic enclaves.

The 1991 census data required a decent amount of wrangling. The dataset with which I worked came in a .PDF format and it was very obvious that the PDF file was a scanned version of the 1991 document. Because it was an original document, it was written in Serbo-Croatian and required translating. Fortunately being native to Bosnia, I was able to translate the text and import the numbers into an Excel table using the PDF Tables service. The 2013 census data came in a much more digital format, and was also published in English.

Wrangling both sets of data took some time. The biggest obstacle I faced involved the municipalities of Bosnia itself. When the census was conducted in 1991 Bosnia was comprised of 109 municipalities. After the wars end the Dayton Peace Accords established 143 municipalities divided between the Federation of Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Republika Srpska. Thus to compare the data of one municipality with another that did not exist prior to the war required that I also use two different ArcGIS shapefiles.

As previously mentioned, this project required a significant amount data wrangling in Microsoft Excel. The map itself was created using Carto, a web-based mapping service. ArcGIS was also used to edit the shapefiles for the municipal boundries.

Data

I sourced the following materials for this project:

Other Materials

I worked on this project as part of my graduate study at The New School. I'm in the process of uploading the spreadsheet data that was used to create this map. Check back soon!