Having done one episode on the Kosovo question, we turn our attention to the other famously

thorny balkan state. Due to its history, ethnic and religious makeup and governmental structure,
the present country of Bosnia and Herzegovina should be of interest to any devoted pan-
seccessionist. How did this country become home to three different nations, and what can be
done about the ramshackle agreement they've lived under since the mid-1990s?

Historical (Christian) Bosnia begins in the 9th century out of the collapse of the Byzantine
Empire in Southern Europe, growing in influence from a vassal of Hungary to an independent
kingdom in the 14th century, only to succumb to Ottoman rule in 1463, shortly after the fall of
Constantinople. The Ottomans levied hefty taxes and conscripted young Christian men into their
elite Janissary army. To escape these burdens, a portion of the Bosnian population accepted the
Islamic faith. After centuries of struggle, the balkan nations were eventually able to rise up
against the weakening Ottomans with a wave of rebellions starting in 1875, but this didn't spell
the end of foreign interference in the region. After the Berlin Congress of 1878, Austria-Hungary
was given the right to occupy Bosnia and the Sandžak region. After the Austro-Hungarian move
to annex Bosnia in 1908, the Serb population of the country became increasingly dissatisfied,
wanting to maintain its cultural and religious sovereignty against Catholic and (then decreasing)
Islamic influence. On July 28th, 1914, Gavrilo Princip, member of the Serb nationalist "Black
Hand" society, assassinated Austro-Hungarian archduke Franz Ferdinand in the Bosnian capital
of Sarajevo, the event which precipitated Austria declaring war on Serbia, thus starting the first
world war. In the aftermath of the war, Bosnia and its neighboring countries were incorporated
into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later to be the [Serb led] Kingdom of
Yugoslavia. The fascist Italian and Nazi German invasion of Yugoslavia in 1941 saw Bosnia
become a part of the Independent State of Croatia, a German puppet state. Communist partisans
who fought the collaborationist Croats during the war created a new Yugoslav state under Croat
Josip Broz Tito, one predicated on "brotherhood and unity", which heavily suppressed all
manifestations of ethnic nationalism. After Tito's death in 1980 and the economic downturns of
the 70s and 80s, the Yugoslav state couldn't maintain its grip on all of its ethnic groups,
especially the Catholic Croats and Slovenes, who clearly wanted independence. Referenda in the
early 90s saw Bosnians, Croats and Slovenes overwhelmingly vote for secession from the central
Yugoslav state, despite Serb attempts at vote boycotts. When the situation got out of control
from the perspective of the central state, the Yugoslav national army [JNA] was deployed to
crush attempts at secession and maintain Yugoslavia's borders. After a humiliating defeat against
Slovenians during a ten-day war, the JNA decided to cut its losses and focus on the larger states
of Croatia and Bosnia, with sizable Serb minorities. The Croats beat the JNA back and won its
independence, while the three ethnic groups in Bosnia were slugging it out amongst each other
for as much territory as they could get. The Croats proclaimed the quasi-state of Herzeg-Bosnia,
the Serbs proclaimed the state of Republika Srpska, and the Bosniaks wanted a unitary Bosnian
state resulting in a destruction of these two entities.

After a long, bloody war, a peace agreement was signed in Dayton, Ohio, on 14th December
1995. Its purpose was to promote regional peace and stability and a balance of power between
the ethnic groups of the country. Bosnia was kept as a single sovereign state composed of two
parts, the ethnically Serb Republika Srpska and the Croat-Bosniak Federation of Bosnia and
Hezregovina. The ethno-religious makeup of the country consists of 50% Bosniak Muslims, 35%
Orthodox Serbs and 15% Croat Catholics. The agreement also created the Office of the High
Representative, whose purpose was to oversee the civilian implementation of the agreement. The
High Representative has essential veto power and "Bonn Powers" to adopt binding decisions
when local parties "seem unable or unwilling to act" and remove public officials who violate
legal commitments from office. The high representative is appointed by the Peace
Implementation Council, and curiously, all of the High Representatives that have been appointed
so far have been from EU countries, and their deputies have all been from the United States.

Needless to say, this arrangement didn't lead to everlasting peace and consensus in the country.
The leading party in Srpska, the SNSD, currently led by Milorad Dodik, openly and frequently
promotes secessionist attitudes and rhetoric. This ironically makes Srpska a thorn in the side of
the powers that cooked up the Dayton agreement in the first place, as the U.S. Embassy
statement on Dodik's recent threats of secession clearly indicate. Dodik himself is no stranger to
making threats like this. He has reportedly made 30 secession threats by 2021 and has made a
couple more since, including his claim that "the war in Ukraine delayed his secession plans" last
year. Christian Schmidt, the current High Representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina, shares this
disdain of Srpska and Dodik, as can be plainly seen in his speech at this year's United Nations
Security Council on May 10th, stating that "Srpska is the biggest obstacle for the advancement of
Bosnia and Herzegovina" and scorning Dodik for his secessionist musings and for "poisoning the
political climate in his entity and in the entire country".

The Bosnian Serbs aren't the only ones with secessionist wishes, however. Although it doesn't
make as much noise as Dodik does, a sizable portion of Bosnian Croats would support the
creation of a Croat federal unit within Bosnia, known as the "third entity". People like Božo
Ljubić, the president of the Supreme Council of the Croatian National Assembly, claim that the
creation of the third entity is "consistent with Dayton and a necessary consequence of the
deconstitution of Croatians".

Whatever one might think about the messy political scene that Bosnia currently finds itself in, it
should be obvious that this state of affairs is unstable and cannot go on indefinitely. Secessionist
attitudes will not simply disappear out of nowhere, and the powers that be will either have to cull
them or watch them inevitably gain favor overtime. May a thousand flowers bloom!