Flying Flags at Weddings in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Nationalism and the Limit of Flag Power

This study examines the practice of ethnic communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina flying national, foreign, ethnic, entity, or religious flags at wedding ceremonies in public spaces. A clustered, stratified, random sample of 2,500 subjects over the age of eighteen is drawn from the country’s population, including the two entities, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska and Brčko District. Survey questions involving face-to-face structured questions ask participants whether flags were flown at their weddings, whether they saw flags flown at others' weddings, which flags were flown, and attitudes toward the wedding custom. Variations by age, religiosity, education, ethnicity, type of flag flown, voting behavior, voting attitudes, and political party affiliation are reported.