BOSNA I HERCEGOVINA I BOŠNJACI U KONTEKSTU SENŽERMENSKOG I DEJTONSKOG MIROVNOG SPORAZUMA (STASAVANJE JEDNE NACIJE)
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA AND THE BOSNIAKS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE SAINT-GERMAIN AND DAYTON PEACE AGREEMENTS (THE EVOLUTION OF A NATION)

Summary/Abstract: An analysis of the period from the 19th century to the present reveals that nearly all global socio-political processes have had a significant impact on Bosnia and Herzegovina. This influence consistently entailed the reactivation of at least two major issues: the question of the country’s internal administrative-territorial reorganization, and the question of redefining and renaming the legal status of Bosniaks as its political subject- a status dating back to medieval Bosnia. International actors who led these global socio-political movements integrated Bosnia and Herzegovina into their own geostrategic interests, often delegating the role of executors to Croatia and Serbia, and at times Montenegro, in the implementation of these geopolitical agendas. Foreign powers simultaneously maintained control over these executors to the extent that suited their interests. Simply put, without the tacit or explicit approval of international actors, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s neighbors could neither realize nor dare to pursue their hegemonic ambitions toward the country. On the broader political map, they remain marginal geopolitical actors, whose highest reach in geopolitical aspiration is reflected in irredentism, nazism, fascism, and aggressive policies toward Bosnia and Herzegovina.The guarantees given to Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Bosniaks by foreign powers or the international community after World War I—specifically in 1919, through two articles of the Saint-Germain Peace Treaty—proved to be highly ineffective. This became evident when they were annulled about a decade later by the Yugoslav monarchist regime. Although the Saint-Germain Treaty served as a foundation for regulating the status of national minorities in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, the introduction of dictatorship rendered all such acts, including those concerning minority rights, void. In 1929, Bosnia and Herzegovina was divided into nine banovinas (administrative provinces), thereby violating its centuries-old borders in contradiction to the international agreement of Saint-Germain. The rights of Muslims, even the most basic religious ones, were severely violated. There was no effective mechanism in place for their protection. In 1939, through the Cvetković–Maček Agreement, Bosnia and Herzegovina was further divided between Serbia and Croatia.Bosnia and Herzegovina received a new set of international guarantees following the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement in 1995, while the Bosniaks secured a national status equal to the previously dominant Serbian and Croatian statuses. However, is this truly a sufficient foundation for statehood, independence, peace, and stability in Bosnia and Herzegovina? This paper highlights the dangers of relying on international actors as guarantors of peace, stabilization, prosperity, and security in the absence of the development of internal capacities for the preservation of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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