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Zoran Milanović, president of Croatia’s Social Democratic Party (SDP), and Barack Obama have quite a few things in common. Both went to law school. Both are young politicians. Both had a stellar rise to political prominence. Both are in opposition. And most importantly, both are hoping to win the next elections.
Continue reading ‘Zoran Milanović - Croatian Obama?’
In an article Democratic exclusion (and its remedies?) Charles Taylor discusses an issue that is very relevant for Bosnia and Herzegovina today – namely how to deal with democratic exclusion that is inherent in societies without a strong collective identity. The threat of democratic exclusion is debilitating all efforts in Bosnia and Herzegovina to create a functioning state and should be the first one to be addressed. Only afterwards can peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina negotiate a common political identity that can accommodate its specific multi-culti character.
Democracy is in a washed-out phrase “rule of the people, by the people, and for the people.” Democratic exclusion comes into play when democracy becomes a rule of one kind of people over other kind of people. The fear of democratic exclusion, common to most national minorities and even immigrant communities in so-called developed democracies, is especially important in a country like Bosnia and Herzegovina; a country that prides itself with three constitutional nations. Basically, there is fear in Bosnia and Herzegovina that one constitutional nation (or two!) might, through democratic means, rule over others. This fear, given recent history of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is not unreasonable, and all those who call for a more unitary Bosnia and Herzegovina would do well to acknowledge this fear.
The only way to constructively address the fear of democratic exclusion is through federalism and negotiation of political space on common state level. There are two other proposed solutions but both only increase opposition between nations instead of fostering understanding and trust between them. First one is to force everybody into a single mould, into a single Bosnian nation. This is an old idea and has failed every time for a simple reason – forced inclusion is a form of exclusion. The other idea is more sophisticated, it proposes a “republican” model where all citizens would be equal and equality would be protected because nobody would be given any special rights. This “one man – one vote” model cannot possibly work in present Bosnia and Herzegovina. This system would naturally lead to democratic exclusion because, as is obvious from every post-war election results in Bosnia and Herzegovina, (almost) all members of one nation vote for “their” national parties. That is Serbs vote for Serb parties, Croats for Croat, and Bosniaks for Bosniak. This reality would lead to one nation (and not one political option) being in opposition and being, yes, democratically excluded.
The only way out, and here I fall back again on Mr. Taylor, is to negotiate and share political and identity space. In Bosnia and Herzegovina this means some sort of federalism, a federalism where every nation can fell safe (and I cannot stress this enough,) safe that its voice in political deliberations will not be ignored. In other words, the only way to build a strong Bosnia and Herzegovina is if it is standing on three equally high pillars.