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The multiethnic composition of local communities is a common phenomenon in modern societies. There are numerous examples of ethnic groups living peacefully side by side, irrespective of cultural diversity, symbolic, political and economic characteristics. However, it must be recognized that cases in which the differences are converted into latent and manifest forms of tensions and conflict are easy to find. The present paper consists of two parts. In the first part the theoretical and methodological dilemmas in the research of ethno-national identification and ethnic conflict are discussed. The starting point in the paper is a general assumption that the conflict (or peaceful) outcomes in multiethnic areas are associated with the complex dynamics of ethno-national identification. In methodological terms, the author argues for an integrative approach in which quantitative methods (such as surveys and content analysis) in the research of ethno-national identification should be combined with qualitative research methods (interviews, discourse analysis, oral history). The necessity of an integrative approach is advocated in the second part of the paper that presents the most important results of empirical studies of ethno-national identification, which the author conducted in more than a decade in multiethnic areas of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Starting from the concept of social integration, it focuses on the interaction between two groups of factors affecting the ethno-national identification. The first consists of structural features of communities that are primarily determined by the impact of social institutions. The second relates to the activities of different social actors operating on national, regional and local levels. The results of quantitative research show that there are significant differences in the openness of ethnic boundaries and trust in social institutions between conflict areas and the peaceful ones. Nevertheless, quantitative analysis fails to explain the subtle interrelationships ...

In recent history the Balkans passed through periods of conflict and violence typical of many post-imperial nation-states that are unable to establish lateral links with their neighbors without or outside the central (imperial) connection. In a way, these states imitated historical path of imperial conquests. In this regard, ethnic conflicts that escalated into wars of the former Yugoslavia can be taken as examples of an erratic transformation of post-imperial into modern nation-states that are eager to build up democracy at home and develop peaceful coexistence with others in international environment. Nevertheless, not all multiethnic areas were caught up in violence (e.g. instances of "peace enclaves" in multiethnic areas in Croatia, Bosnia and Heregovina and in Kosovo). Through such examples, which will be illustrated with results of empirical research, we recognize potentials for building tolerance from below. On the other hand, in most other places peace was a follow up of post-conflict processes. In these cases, local potentials of ethnic tolerance were rather weak. The paper provides some examples illustrating regional differences in this regard within Croatia. Actually, the whole process of normalization of ethnic relations in peaceful terms is far from being linear and is hardly going smoothly. Some parts of national elites foster distance and antagonism against the "others". On the other hand, especially following EU accession of Croatia, nationalistic rhetoric significantly receded on the level of the official politics. The question is then whether the impact of policies in institutional sphere, both national and international, i.e. top-down approach, is decisive in shaping inter-ethnic relations. The conclusion is that the institutional, top-down arrangements of peace and tolerance cannot be sustainable without concomitant bottom-up processes on micro level, which theoretically corresponds to a "conformant policy" against "linear policy" or determinism of the center and contingencies in the ...