Bosnia and Herzegovina at the crossroads : revitalization of Muslim identity or Islamization of the country?

By the outbreak of the civil war in the 1990s, traditional Bosnian Islam was moderate and liberal, however its nature underwent some deep changes especially under the influence of the Arab Mujahideen, who supported the Bosnian Muslims in the fighting with the Serbs, and - after the civil war - stayed in the country. The author discusses possible variants of the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina: either the latent conflict will continue, which may lead to new acts of violence and disintegration of the country, or the consolidated state will be able to rebuild social trust and political stabilization, and finally will successfully complete its integration with the European Union and NATO. Unfortunately, Bosnia and Herzegovina remains vulnerable to Islamic political-religious extremism. Probably the Bosnian Muslims, who are attached to the local tradition of moderate and progressive Islam, may reject radical slogans. One must remember, however, that when in the 1990s the intolerant ideas appeared in the Western Balkans, they were belittled. Soon it turned out that extremists from religiously oriented political parties quickly went from slogans and manifestations to violence. We must not underestimate the current situation, because the crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina is particularly vulnerable to the impact of radical movements. The situation is complicated by the fact that Bosnia and Herzegovina no longer functions only as a safe haven for Islamic radicals. The war in Syria, Iraq, international terrorism, economic and social crisis in the Muslim world have led to a horrendous migration/refugee crisis which has created the “gateway” to Europe for many Islamic fundamentalists in the whole region of the Western Balkans. That is why, according to many nationalists - in Bosnia, in the region, and in Europe - the days of Western civilization’s final clash with Islam are coming. In Bosnia, the Orthodox popula¬tion counts on Russia’s leadership in the final victory over global jihad. An additional element on the geopolitical chessboard is Turkey, which is gaining greater power in the international arena and which strongly supports the reconstruction of the “Ottoman” identity in the Balkans.