The Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs hosted Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Željko Komsić, for an event titled “The World from the Periphery: Bosnia and Herzegovina in an Age of Spheres of Influence.”
Željko Komsić (left) and David Simon (right) during the event on Monday. (Credit: Emily Akbar)
Emily Akbar
Campus Reporting Editor, The Buckley Beacon
On Monday, Bosnian President Željko Komsić discussed the evolving international order and its effects on smaller states. David Simon, Yale’s Assistant Dean for Graduate Education, moderated the conversation, which was held in Horchow Hall.
Komsić is currently the Croat standing Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The country operates on a tripartite presidency, with each member elected to represent one of the three ethnic groups in the region–Serbs, Croats, or Bosniaks. He also founded the Democratic Front, which distinguishes itself as a multi-ethnic party in Bosnia.
“We don’t represent distinct peoples, we represent citizens,” he proclaimed in his opening remarks, which were translated from Bosnian into English by Larisa Satara, Chief of Staff at the Jackson School.
Komsić has long advocated for a shift away from ethnic partisan lines in Bosnian politics. In his 2023 UN address, Komsić criticized Bosnia’s “ethnocracy” and urged for a more “democratic” form of political representation.
Komsić went on to address how the international order is beginning to shift from a multilateral system to a unilateral one. He argued that after World War II, the international system, though imperfect, was based on rules, institutions, and multilateral cooperation that limited the behavior of powerful countries. Within this system, he argued, small states gained a degree of security and could operate within a shared framework of international law.
He contrasted that degree of security with the challenges of the new international order. “Now I wish to pose a very simple yet controversial question: what happens to the small countries when the rules that used to limit power begin to disappear?” he asked.
Komsić touched upon how small states like Bosnia often bear the burden within a unilateral world. He described how despite Bosnia’s “long history of deep involvement in geopolitical struggles that far surpass our size,” small states are rarely legitimized in political frameworks and lack material power.
“But the small countries, particularly those as a political periphery, like Bosnia and Herzegovina, are not left with many safe choices,” Komsić explained. “They are being told to wait and rely on external guarantees, to believe that someone else will manage their security development and their institutional future.”
“If we continue to wait for hegemony to solve our problems, they will most often be solved, but not in the way we choose to be done.”
The president also touched upon the 1995 Dayton Accords between the presidents of Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia, which ended the war in Bosnia. While the Accords preserved Bosnia as a single state, it split the country into two federations: the Bosniak-Croat and the Bosnian Serb federations, with Sarajevo remaining as the neutral capital city. However, Komsić acknowledged that such an achievement may no longer be as easily accomplished within today’s world order.
“It was born in a specific international moment at a time when multilateral engagement, legal framework and external guarantees still held real weight. That moment has passed,” he said.
In reckoning with the new global order, Komsić argued that small states ought to take a more active role rather than rely on hegemons like the US. While he acknowledged his gratitude for any cooperation Bosnia fosters with the US, Komsić stressed that small states should also participate.
“We are not asking for protection without assuming responsibility. We are advocating for our system in which responsibility is shared, in which law still holds good and sovereignty is not conditioned by sight.”
In the discussion with Simon, Komsić compared the two world orders, arguing that they are similar such that hegemons pursue their own interests, yet the contemporary order is more transparent.
“This new international system, it doesn’t hide anything, it’s all out there, this new order says ‘the UN what are we here for, what do we need those institutional organizations for?’ So power and force reigns because we are the stronger ones and we have it, we define our own interests, and we don’t care what threat the world thinks, so what’s the difference? The old order did the same, it was just done with gloves on,” Komsić described, as translated by Satara.
However, Komsić also accepted the US’s reduced contributions towards Bosnia, reaffirming Bosnia’s commitment to increasing their own responsibility.
“For all these years, the US was the main pillar for all these laws and institutions we believe in. Now Washington says take care of yourself—that’s fair. There’s a saying in Bosnian, ‘Help yourself and then God will help you.'”
After the event, Komsić reflected on Bosnia’s relationship with the Trump administration, and how he envisioned future dynamics.
“Our expectation is for them to be honest. To keep the words they gave us. The United States and Bosnia and Herzegovina are interested in stability and economic growth. That will be enough,” Komsić told the Beacon.
Komsić is set to head out to Washington D.C. after the Yale event.