Bosnia the Good: Tolerance and Tradition

Bosnia the Good is an indictment of the partition of Bosnia, fomalized in 1995 by the Dayton Accord, and an appeal on the author’s part for Bosnia’s communities to reject ethnic segregation and restore mutual trust. A claim for the history and reality of Bosnia-Herzegovina based upon a model of “unity in diversity’ is supported through the ethnic and religious cultures that were shown to co-exist in Bosnia for centuries previous. The blame for present conflicts can be attributed to Croation and Serb leaders who are determined to enact their own nationalist programs. The author further argues that the decisive moment when the international community accepted the Serb/Croat argument that ancient ethnic hatreds were endemic to Bosnia caused ethnic segregation to be seen not only as acceptable but desirable. He examines the reasons why Western liberal democracies have regarded with sympathy the struggles of Serbia and Croatia for national recognition, while viewing Bosnia’s multicultural society with suspicion. Bosnia the Good confronts the religious dimension of the Bosnian dilemmas from the perspective of a Bosniak committed to inter-religious dialogue. The author argues that the only way Bosnia will reclaim its unique civilisation is more than simple toleration among Serbs, Croats and Bosnians. They have to recognise that Judaism, Christianity and Islam all share the same deity and it is this common transcendent perspective that should open the door to the acceptance and celebration of religious diversity. The greatest danger is for Bosnia to be declared just another ethnoreligious entity, in this case a "Muslim State’ ghettoized inside Europe. If protected and allowed to develop however, the author explains how Bosnia could find a place in a new European order.