What Response to Democratic Security Challenges?
By Saša Magazinović
Saša Magazinović graduated from the School of Political Studies in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in 2010. He now serves as MP in the Parliament of BiH and is Head of Social Democratic Party (SDP) of the BiH parliamentary group. Saša is also Head of the SDP’s BiH International Cooperation Department. Since 2011 he has been deputy representative of the SDP for BiH at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
I was born in Sarajevo, at that time a city in Yugoslavia – some people would say a non–democratic country with only one political party but the country was economically and socially stable and most of the population were satisfied. My children were born in Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a democratic country with intangible human freedoms, but little security in terms of jobs, health, and their future.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has developed democracy, but it is far from what it should be and it is clear that the country needs not only to develop its democracy, but also its economy and rule of law. No matter how economically and democratically strong or weak we appear in comparison with the European champions in democracy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and indeed all the Balkan countries, face the same global challenges as all European countries.
There are individuals from Bosnia and Herzegovina who go to Syria or Ukraine to fight in a war, and the same phenomenon occurs in the UK, Germany, Austria, etc. The Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina has adopted a law which prohibits these actions, and which prescribes imprisonment for those who participate on foreign battlefields and in foreign military formations.
However, it is much harder for people in Bosnia and Herzegovina today than for the countries in Western Europe; oversight of procedures, adoption of laws, habits, mentality, history and the level of implementation of democratic will of the people is not the same in my country as in the countries of Western Europe. In the western Balkans it is much more difficult to solve problems in a way that is not at the expense of democratic standards which we are still struggling to fully implement, despite our best intentions; we are trying to build up democracy to the level of our role models whose help and solidarity we require; but the help often does not come in the way as we expect.
Security is key for people in Bosnia and Herzegovina; many would say that it is more important than human rights and democracy. We are a country which was recently at war and when one is at war, only one thing matters: to stay alive. Unfortunately the feelings of trauma stay. Despite the general willingness to trade a piece of democracy and human rights for a bit of security amongst the public, on an institutional level, this has never been enforced.
The authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina try to follow positive examples of democratically developed countries within the European Union in the hope of one day becoming a part of it. But modern Europe, despite attempts to present a different image, is in fact a Europe of differences and divisions: great and powerful countries are on one side, small and weak states are on another. Democratically developed countries are on one side, those who still need to develop their democracies are on the other side.
And then a global problem occurs, like the one we have today with terrorism and where great and powerful economically developed countries were the first ones to say that we should fight global terrorism together. Of course we should remain together in the fight against terrorism, but we the small countries often ask why we are only equal when there is a global challenge or a problem. And when the problem is settled everyone goes back to their positions in the global hierarchy. We continue to be societies in democratic development and the great ones continue to look exclusively after their own economic and other interests.
Europe, being the bearer of the idea of protecting human rights and civilisation values, must not allow its current interpretation of human rights to harm the freedom and security of its citizens. Freedom is a relative concept and our freedoms are linked with the freedoms of others. When freedom is violated because of the freedom of another, the state must help to regulate the sensitive issue and to consciously limit what some consider their freedom.
Either we are always together, or we never are; this needs to be addressed urgently and then we can talk about democracy, laws, common values and Europe. In my opinion we can only survive if we stand together both great and small, strong and weak, and both democratically advanced and those who wish to become so, the left and the right, and those who were born in socialism and our children who were born in a democracy.
April 2015.
