Preliminary communication
Political Dimension of Croatian- -Muslim/Bosnian Relations in 1992
Saša MRDULJAŠ
orcid.org/0000-0002-1946-2243
; Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar – Centre Split, Split
Abstract
International recognition of the independence of the state of
Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) and the outbreak of intensive
Serbian military aggression in April 1992 was the beginning of a
new period of Croatian-Muslim/Bosnian relations. In this paper
the author describes and analyses the political dimension of the
said relations during the year 1992. Thus it is stressed that the
international political action towards B&H at the time as well as
exposure to very strong Serbian military aggression influenced a
certain integration of the political and defensive efforts of the
Bosnian-Herzegovinian Croats and Muslims/Bosnians. However,
in the same year a decisive influence on the character of the
Croatian-Muslim/Bosnian relations were the opposed goals (of
the leaderships) of the two nations with regard to the internal
constitution of B&H and a contradictory attitude of the international
community towards that issue. While the leadership of
the Croatian people strived towards the organisation of B&H as a
complex state consisting of three, tentatively speaking, national
territorial units, the political leaders of the Muslim/Bosnian
community promoted the transformation of the same country into
a unitarian, ethnically non-decentralised entity. The inability to
coordinate the mentioned constitutional options in a particular set of circumstances could have easily caused the eruption of the
Croatian-Muslim/Bosnian military aggression in Bosnia and
Herzegovina. Especially having in mind the encouragement of
certain parties that would have profited from such a conflict.
Keywords
war in B&H; relations between Bosnian- -Herzegovinian Croats and Muslim/Bosnians; international community; Serbs in B&H
Hrčak ID:
29462
URI
Publication date:
31.10.2008.
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