UNSA Open Lecture
“Bosnia and Herzegovina: Challenges of the Future”

Upon the occasion of the Independence Day of Bosnia and Herzegovina 1 March, Prof. Dr. Sacir Filandra, UNSA Faculty of Political Sciences delivered a lecture “Bosnia and Herzegovina: Challenges of the Future” at the University of Sarajevo on Thursday 26 February 2015

At the very beginning of his lecture, Prof. Dr. Filandra said that the gaining of the independence had been a very important moment for the history of modern Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Prof. Dr. Filandra also said that the referendum for the sovereignty and independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1 March 1992 confirmed its statehood, independence and autonomy, as well as the will of the BH citizen’s majority. He also said that the referendum, for the first time after 1463, returned Bosnia and Herzegovina’s full civil capacity and gave it the same footing with the other Southeast European countries.

“Up to 1 March 1992, B&H kept its territorial integrity and constitutional and political autonomy within the complex and in principle imposed state forms, which the referendum and admission to the UN on 6 April 1992 abolished and gave B&H the full meaning of modern state,” said Professor Filandra.

When speaking about the benefits of independence, professor Filandra stressed that independence was an important step in further social and political transformation of BH society. He also added “Despite all the adversity that has accompanied it has enabled a kind of civilizational step forward for Bosnian society, bringing its citizens in the opportunity to actively participate in the achievements of the spirit of that time.”

Professor Filandra believes that the least what university professors can do for their future and future of our children, for the all people of this country is not to be a part of regressive political ideologies and movements and to honor their profession and not to use their knowledge for causing harm to other people. He also said, “If the already present partisan usurpation of public space is not inclined to humanistic conceptualization of the world of life, then the position of outsider is honorable. In this way, the majority of intellectual community treats the public space today.”

With pointing out that, unfortunately ideological forms, out of which the ideology of nationalism is most and the most effective mainly determine our state and society, Professor Filandra ended his presentation. His closing words were “Nationalism is always present, in every place and in every society, and regardless of its different historical roles and was equal to discrimination, violence, segregation, and finally extermination of anything different. The problem with our nationalisms are that they are constitutional institutionalized, allegedly democratically legitimate, which results in the very BiH political system being built around the network of institutional form and content to promote the one and the proper bearer and protector of the human identity. The negative effect of nationalism is the collectivization of Bosnian society, narrowing the space for freedom and individual initiative, which entails in inequality, poverty and slow or almost absent socio-economic development.”