The Bosniaks: Post-Genocide Identity Politics in Bosnia and Herzegovina

For the first time in nearly two centuries, one ethnic group now constitutes an absolute majority of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s population: the Bosniaks. It is an unlikely development given that, scarcely thirty years ago, they were targeted for extermination and expulsion by Serbia’s Slobodan Milošević. Even as the Bosniak community fought to survive these atrocities, it simultaneously came under attack from militants led by Croatian president Franjo Tuđman, who attempted to partition Bosnia and Herzegovina between Zagreb and Belgrade. Improbably, the Bosniaks and the Bosnian state survived these campaigns. But the country’s fractious sectarian post-war order has produced the world’s most convoluted constitutional regime, always teetering on the brink of collapse. This talk will examine the sources of contemporary Bosniak political identity, tracing the evolution of a religious community into a secular nation, the idea of Bosnia and Herzegovina as the ‘national homeland of the Bosniaks’, and how narratives of genocide influence self-identity.

About the Speaker: Dr. Jasmin Mujanović is a political scientist specializing in the politics of post-authoritarian and post-conflict democratization. His publications include two books: Hunger and Fury: The Crisis of Democracy in the Balkans and The Bosniaks: Nationhood after Genocide. Additionally, his analyses have appeard in numerous think tanks and leading global media such as the New York Times, Foreign Affairs, and more. Originally from Sarajevo, he is currently a Senior Non-Resident Fellow at the Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy based out of Washington, D.C.

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