Željko Komšić, Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia & Herzegovina, speaks at Jackson

The World from the Periphery

There is a saying in Bosnia: “Take care of yourself and God will take care of you.” As Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Željko Komšić uses this mantra in his approach to diplomatic relations.

“We must take our fate into our own hands,” he said at a February 9 discussion hosted by the Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs. “Bosnians must realize that despite our differences in ethnicity or religion, we are closer to each other than we are to anyone else.”

The event, titled “The World from the Periphery,” explored Bosnia and Herzegovina’s position in geopolitics — as a small country, a generation removed from war and genocide, still searching for stability. In addition to the discussion, Komšić met with the leadership of the Yale Jackson School’s Peacebuilding Initiative and held an informal conversation with a small group of Yale students.

Komšić is in his fourth term in the three-person Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina as the Croat member. First elected to the presidency in 2006, he served from 2006-2014 and again from 2018 to today. He currently holds the position of Chairman of the Presidency, which rotates among each of its three members every eight months — a system designed as part of the Dayton Peace Accords that ended Bosnia’s brutal war in 1995.

Komšić acknowledged that Bosnia and Herzegovina has often had to lean on global hegemonic powers — particularly the U.S. — for help but said that a changing world order has forced his country and other small states like it to reconsider their geopolitical strategy.

“Order creates predictability, otherwise chaos would prevail,” said Komšić. “Today, the framework is starting to collapse, and multilateral organizations are being bypassed.”

“So, what happens to us when the rules used to limit power disappear? When power is not limited, the first victims are the small states. We know it well — we have limited material power and a long history of geopolitical struggles. Small states are expected to sacrifice their values in exchange for stability; the strong do what they can and the small suffer as they must.”

Left with few alternatives, Komšić said his country must take responsibility for its own issues rather than leaving them for others to solve. “If the world is entering a stage of new spheres of influence, small countries must work to maintain their dignity and their right to support themselves.”

Komšić’s conversation was moderated by David Simon, senior lecturer and assistant dean for graduate education at Yale Jackson. An expert on mass atrocity prevention and post-atrocity recovery, Simon has traveled to Bosnia and Herzegovina extensively in the past year to conduct research on peacebuilding efforts in post-conflict settings.

“President Komšić gave the Jackson community a rare and valuable glimpse into the strategy options of a small state in a complicated neighborhood with a contentious past,” said Simon, who also applauded Komšić’s engagement in a Q&A with students in his Jackson seminar course, “Rebuilding Nations After Atrocity.” “His openness with those in attendance was refreshing.”