Босна и Херцеговина след Тито — краят на илюзията?
Bosnia and Hercegovina after Tito: the End of Illusion?

Summary/Abstract: The disintegration of Yugoslavia represented in itself the collapse of an extremely complex system, of which the specific economic and national model of the state, the balancing influence of international factors and Tito’s political charisma were all parts. The collapse of the Eastern Bloc at the beginning of the 1990s and the disappearance of the well-balanced bipolar world made the existence of Yugoslavia as a buffer state between the two enemy camps unnecessary. The disintegration of the Yugoslav Federation deprived the Bosnian people of a guarantor for their security and for the peaceful co-existence among the three ethno-confessional communities: the Orthodox Serbs, the Catholic Croats and the Moslems. That is why they began looking for stability in their ethno-religious communities, speeding up disintegration, confrontation and separatism. These complicated relations led to the dramatic war after the recognition of Bosnian independence (April 6, 1992). They interwove not only the interests of the Bosnian people, but the ones of the former Yugoslav republics, the Balkan neighbours and the Great Powers — Russia, the European Union and the United States as well. It is no secret that Turkey and many Islamic countries (Iran, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, etc) were, too, interested in that war. The Dayton Peace, signed at the end of 1995, demonstrated the American diplomatic triumph in the Bosnian crisis. It did not solve, though, the main problem: integration or complete disintegration of the Bosnian people. None of these peoples has been content with the Dayton peace agreement. Bosnia and Hercegovina was established as a state consisting of two parts, between which there has been enmity, so its survival is questionable. In this way the Dayton Peace created an artificial state, deprived of political and financial sovereignty, of any potential for its survival, torn by ethnic and religious hatred, and incapable of existing without N.A.T.O.’s military presence.

• Details
• Contents