conference report Political fragmentation on the left... ...alongside a global renaissance of right-wing populism Marius Müller-Hennig, SARAJEVO January 2018 „ „“The personal is very political”: while political fragmentation is usually explained with re­ference to programmatic or ideological disagreements, the personal dimension of such processes should also be taken into serious consideration. „ „ In terms of programmatic and ideological questions, left-wing fragmentation both within and between parties seems to come down, in many cases, to the question of socio-eco­nomic profile: should a pragmatic accommodation be sought with the contemporary neoliberal hegemony in order to attract more voters from society’s“middle” or is a return to more clear-cut criticism of the current capitalist market economy warranted, in order to sharpen the profile of the left? The cacophony of answers to this basic question is reflected in the fragmentation that we are witnessing. „ „ There are numerous ways to cope effectively with left-wing fragmentation.(Re-)unifica ­tion is certainly one such option, but also the most challenging one. The rather unortho­dox examples of the Frente Amplio in Uruguay and the current minority government in Portugal show, however, that thinking out of the box may indeed pay off. „ „ Regardless of the approach chosen, it is of crucial importance to build trust among the different actors over the medium to long term and to reaffirm joint political aims to cope with fragmentation effectively. There are no quick fixes, however, even if the objective incentives for unification may appear to be overwhelming. It is nevertheless of high im ­portance to seize strategic windows of opportunity to initiate such a process and gain momentum. „ „ Additional important recommendations for left-wing parties came out of these discussi­ons, which are elaborated further in the report: ƒ ƒ clear agreements are key to overcoming fragmentation; ƒ ƒ a fixation on polls and elections should be avoided; ƒ ƒ it is important to keep ideologically committed members in the party; ƒ ƒ bridges should be built between the different constituencies of the party/parties. This report recapitulates a conference that was organized by FES Bosnia and Herzegovina office from 5.-6. July 2017 in Sarajevo.