How Does the Political Representation Reflects the Western Balkan Countries’ Existence in the Case o

A N TA L L J Ó Z S E F K N OW L E D G E C E N T R E

HOW DOES THE POLITICAL REPRESENTATION REFLECTS THE WESTERN BALKAN COUNTRIES’ EXISTENCE IN THE CASE OF BOSNIA AND KOSOVO

BEKIR TURAN

COMMENTARY AJRC-Analyses 2019E08

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A N TA L L J Ó Z S E F K N OW L E D G E C E N T R E

AJRC-Analyses Series of the Antall József Knowledge Centre

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© Bekir Turan, 2019 © Antall József Knowledge Centre, 2019 ISSN 2416-1705

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A N TA L L J Ó Z S E F K N OW L E D G E C E N T R E HOW DOES THE POLITICAL REPRESENTATION REFLECTS THE WESTERN BALKAN COUNTRIES’ EXISTENCE IN THE CASE OF BOSNIA AND KOSOVO

BEKİR TURAN

Introduction If one looks at what is behind the idea of representation as a philosophical and political question, there are layers of meanings to appear. The question is how humanity reached the general idea that one person can represent all the others in a society. It has not always been obvious, for example, in ancient Greece, such a representational model could not have existed.1 In a certain sense, it is just not a natural thing, as no one is able to truly represent another person because their identities, wishes, interests, and values are inherently different. In the real world, it is impossible for a person to truly represent anyone else in society. How did then political representation emerge? It is clear that the first examples of political representation did emerge from the political domain.2 In fact, Hoffman explains that a practice based on legal deputation in Roman Law is a reflection of political life. A representation embodied in parliament after the French revolution is also a reflection of political life is. There had been no embodied representation in the parliament before.

In his work, Carl Schmitt does not criticise the concept of representation itself, as he states if representation had not existed, the state would have never emerged. If one continues this track of thought, he can conclude that the thing that engenders a state is the idea of representation. People has gained a form of government and identity through representation.

Within this framework, this study intends to look at the formation of two Western Balkan countries, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, through the framework of theories of political representation.

The central question of this research is why Bosnia and Herzegovina became a state, while Kosovo did not—and, in many respects, it is still

1 2

3

Hanna-Fenichel Pitkin: The Concept of Representation. University of California Press, Berkeley, 1967. 2–13.

Carl Schmitt: The Concept of the Political. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2007. 13–25.

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A N TA L L J Ó Z S E F K N OW L E D G E C E N T R E not considered as such by many.3 Kosovo came into being as a sort of artificial state created by the authority of the United Nations.4 Bosnia, on the other hand, went through a state formation period because the country had a leader, Alija Izetbegović, who devoted himself to the making of the country. In the Schmittian theory, there is always someone who represents the whole nation. Kosovo still struggles with issues of state-building, and that is largely due to the fact that Ibrahim Rugova has very different leadership skills than those owned by Alija Izetbegović.5 The presence of a leader who is representative of the whole nation makes a state a functional entity in the realm of politics. In the absence of such a leader, a country must resort to different practices of parliamentarism.

In fact, Carl Schmitt looks at representation from this perspective.

If people are represented, there is a state; if not, we can hardly speak of a functional state. The parliament is not necessary for political representation; it is seen as a middle layer between the ruler and the ruled.6 For instance, Alija Izetbegović was no longer a ruler in the old sense but acted pretty much like a sovereign, as he was the one who made decisions in extraordinary times. In Schmitt’s theory, setting up parliaments is not a requirement for representation to be democratic.

Essentially, what makes representation democratic is identity between the rulers and the ruled.

Enemy and sovereign: a conceptual framework of Schmitt’s study

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To position the political concept in Carl Schmitt’s studies, the first thing we need to emphasize is that Schmitt did not focus on politics but on the “political,” and this is certainly not a simple methodological approach. Schmitt argues that the political is a strategic choice that demonstrates politics is not an objective field such as economy, culture, or ethics but a category or criteria.

For him, the political comes before the concept of the state. In the concept of the political, he emphasises that there is a precedence to his concept, and places the political formation called as state in a position that presupposes its enemy.7 Here, the state as a system of order is a structure arising from the existence of the political category that contains the conflict in essence.

3 International recognitions of the Republic of Kosovo. Republic of Kosovo, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. <http://www.mfa-ks.net/en/politika/483/njohjet-ndrkombtare-t-republiks-skosovs/483 > Accessed: 9 January 2020.

4 Accordance with International Law of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in Respect of Kosovo. Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports. 2010. <https://www.icj-cij.org/files/case-related/141/14120100722-ADV-01-00-EN.pdf > Accessed: 9 January 2020.

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Robert Bideleux–Ian Jeffries: The Balkans. A Post-Communist History. Routledge, New York, 2007. 329–404

Duncan Kelly: Carl Schmitt’s Political Theory of Representation. Journal of History of Ideas. 2004/ January. 113–134.

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Schmitt, 21.

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A N TA L L J Ó Z S E F K N OW L E D G E C E N T R E So Schmitt, by attributing friend, underlines that poleis, imperia, or polities are historical, and they are open for change, but the source of this change is the power of the political.

Essentially, Schmitt’s aim is to define the political concept around specific political categories and position relations among these political concepts as conveniently as possible among these categorisations. Within this context, Schmitt tries to find what is the true final divide in the field of the political—in a similar vein to the field of morality (where ultimate divide is between the good and the bad), aesthetics (with a divide between the beautiful and the ugly), or economics (with a divide between profitability and unprofitability). According to Schmitt, such political distinction that can be used to explain political action and motives is the distinction between friend and foe.8 So being an enemy is not necessarily equivalent to unprofitability in terms of economics, ugliness in terms of aesthetics, and acting bad in morality. The categorisation as friend or foe is concrete, and it is always existential, so it points to a problem of unity and separation.

For Schmitt, human life itself is a struggle, and, in this sense, every human being is struggling for survival. War is the ultimate point of this struggle. What embodies war is the political decision about who the foe is. In a real war, that is to say, in a war as an action, there is no point in thinking about the distinction between a friend and a foe, as it is crystal clear who they are: the enemy is in uniform and encamped across the front. However, from a political point of view, war, or belligerence, covers all people’s life. Life covered by political union does not always present the enemy in uniforms. As the identity of the enemy is not clear, it makes a true case for the need for establishing a political union.

According to Schmitt, the basis is the existence of the possibility of struggle and the decision which will be made on this direction. In fact, it is in an atmosphere of absolute struggle where even the existence of a possible distinction between friend and foe also maintains political unity . In the end, political unity is a unity established and maintained against an enemy. What brings people together is the general attitude they take against a common foe—it is more important than the friendship among them. That is also obviously in the case of Bosnian independence: Serbs always looked upon the Bosnian state as an enemy because they had opposed the very existence of Bosnia internationally.9 In such an environment, the role of Alija Izetbegović, who had had a serious impact on the strategies and methods of war through his intellectual character 8

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Schmitt, 21.

Korkut Hasan–Mulalic Muhidin: Implications of Dayton Peace Agreement on Current Political Issues in Bosnia and Herzegovina. SDU Faculty of Arts and Sciences Journal of Social Sciences.

Special Issue on Balkans. 108–116.

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A N TA L L J Ó Z S E F K N OW L E D G E C E N T R E during its course, was essential to the formation of the BiH10 This attitude to order the death of his own people in the fight for independence and defeat their enemies in the same combat is a founding element of the sovereign’s authority. This element that confers the right to demand people’s life to be sacrificed when it necessary and decide who the enemy is walks hand in hand with the right to fight.

Carl Schmitt’s view of the political is obviously related to the question of how he positions the sovereign. According to Schmitt, sovereignty is the ability to decide on matters in extraordinary circumstances. From the extraordinary circumstances, we can infer that, due to technical and practical reasons, representatives can decide on behalf of their people— one representative can only decide on behalf of the same people if he is a leader. Izetbegović’s association with the very idea of the Bosniak state derives from the fact that he never gave up the idea of independence for his country during the war of 1992–1995.11 By his symbolic leadership, he essentially identified himself with the state and did not turn to parliamentary procedures to define strategy.

The Problem of Political Representation We might say that the problem of representation is essential for not only different types of democracies but also all political forms of government.

It may be useful to briefly touch a few general points about radical democracy before discussing this problem. For this reason, first of all, we can refer to Chantal Mouffe and Ernesto Laclau’s work,12 which provides a framework that reminds us all democratic struggles have emerged in different social relations and cannot be understood by class category in society. In this context, Mouffe evaluates the political from the perspective of economics. His theory is based on a collective democracy model that he claims to be a critique of the model of participatory democracy which depends on an ethical or a moral approach. Her model emphasises the necessity of creating an equivalence between various democratic struggles against different forms of subjugation. The main tenet of his model entails the different kind of ethnic and nationalist movements within a society and how they represent their community.

The situation of the Balkan countries is appropriate for an evaluation of political representation. In this sense, the model of radical democracy includes, in essence, a vision of citizenship by different ethnicities

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10 Busatlic Senad–Plojovic Semsudin: Alija Izetbegovic: Natural Leadership Qualities and Approaches. 1st International A Luminary A Country Symposium, Full Paper Proceedings. 676--681.

11

Drazen Pehar: Alija Izetbegovic and the War in Bosnia-Herzegovina. HKD Napredak, Mostar, 2011. 113.

Ernesto Laclau–Chantal Mouffe: Hegemony and Socialist Strategy. Towards a Radical Democratic Politics. Verso, London–New York, 2001.

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A N TA L L J Ó Z S E F K N OW L E D G E C E N T R E in the Balkans. The proposal for rethinking the relationship between the state and its citizens is about bringing to life a political existence that operates on the basis of a democratic citizenship. For example, following the Dayton Peace Agreement,13 the community of Bosnia and Herzegovina has been ruled by the three different ethnic groups, the Bosniaks, the Croatians, and the Serbs. As Mouffe points out, in this context, it is assumed that the diversity of democratic citizenship which can take a variety of forms is not a danger to democracy but rather a condition of existence that points to the ideal of democratic society.14 Mouffe also says that the process of this kind of imagination is not a problem and that this will, of course, create conflict but it would be a mistake to expect all the people with different identities and understandings of the world to coexist without conflict. However, this struggle will take the form of a struggle between “enemies” and not “opponents,” as all participants will consider the positions of the others as legitimate within this competition.

In the Balkan region, this struggle is clearly seen over time and throughout history. The Balkans, essentially a meeting point of many nations with different racial, religious, and linguistic characteristics, faced a continuous transformation throughout history both politically and socially. When the Ottoman Empire began to lose its power, the subsequent declarations of independence made by the Balkan nations heralded the beginning of a new era in administrative terms. They all have democracy in diverse societies. In this new era, newly re-emerged nations15 including Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Macedonia appeared in international politics. Bosnia declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 and 1992, and subsequent referenda legitimised the declarations, while Kosovo is regularly invoked as an example in their contentious discussions (we also take into account Montenegro’s and Kosovo’s declaration of independence in 2008).

There has been a significant historic Turkish population in the Balkans, especially in Macedonia.16 Since 1940, they have started to migrate to Turkey, which resulted in a significant reduction in the percentage of the Turkish presence in this country. Although they represent 5% in the total population, Macedonian Turks like the western Thrace Turkish Minority also have problems of representation in parliament and other

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13 Dayton Peace Agreement was formally signed in Paris on 14 December 1995, and it put an end to the Bosnian War. 14

Mouffe Chantal: The Democratic Paradox. VERSO, London. 2000. 17–36

Vladimir Gligorov: Caueses and consequences. In: Yugoslavia from a Historical Perspective.

Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, 2017. 555--565.

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16 Bonifazi Corrado–Mamolo Marija: Past and Current Trends of Balkan Migrations. Espace populations sociétés. 2004/3. 519--531.

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A N TA L L J Ó Z S E F K N OW L E D G E C E N T R E institutions of the State.17 However, another country where Muslim Turks live as a minority is Kosovo, which declared its independence on 17 February 2008. Kosovo has been involved in planned politics with a variety of political parties to contest in elections. One of them is a Turkish party, the Turkish Democratic Party of Kosovo, which represents the Turkish minority’s rights.18 In this respect, Mouffe states that the question of reaching consensus without excluding anybody cannot be a fundamental issue, since this kind of problematisation would require a “we” that does not have “them,” which is simply impossible. According to Mouffe, it should be based on the question of how we can establish that as a constitutive feature of politics and how we can establish the distinction between “we” and “them” at the same time to allow the recognition of pluralism. In other words, in terms of a political struggle, the question is whether antagonism, which means the struggle between enemies, can be transformed into an agonism, that is, a struggle between opposing parties. The essence of the agonistic democratic model is built on opposing categories and depends on democracy, liberty, and the equality of all principles. Here, opponents struggle to make their political interpretation hegemonic, but they do not question the legitimacy of their opponents after their eventual victory.

Political representation is the act of people’s identifying themselves with a sovereign as a symbol. From this point of view, the belief in a leader who represents the nation symbolically is highly important. Thus, political representation follows a simple procedure and points to a number of vital decisions about who believes if one or another leader is most trustworthy. In the next section, I will assess the case of Alija Izetbegović’s and Ibrahim Rugova’s political leadership representation in their countries through the independence process.

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Political leadership in the representation model: the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo Alija Izetbegović, who is identified with Bosnia’s freedom struggle, is a political icon and, at the same time, an important thinker.19 It is not possible to recount the history of Bosnia without Alija Izetbegović, nor can one explain the person of Alija Izetbegović without the idea of Bosnia. The struggle for independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina 17 Nazif Mandacı: Turks of Macedonia: The Travails of the “Smaller” Minority. Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs. 2007/1. 5--24.

18

Valon Krasniqi: Political Parties Ideologies in Kosovo. Revista De Stiinte Politice. 2016/January. 108–119.

Jason Edward Carson: A Leader Despite Himself? An Analysis of the Statesmanship of Alija Izetbegovic, 1990–2000. MA Thesis, University of Missouri, St. Louis, 2009. 99.

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A N TA L L J Ó Z S E F K N OW L E D G E C E N T R E and the charismatic leadership of Alija Izetbegović in the formation of “Bosniak identity” are important.

Throughout its history, Bosnia has many times got stuck at the intersection of two paths, and the Bosnians have always chosen a third one: this happened in the case of Serbs vs Croats, the East vs the West, Communism vs Fascism, the Orthodox vs the Catholic Church.20 These important decisions had mostly been taken before Izetbegović was born, and some of them happened during his childhood. He recounts those years in the following way: “The Communists were particularly strong in my language, known for having organized teachers in the communist movement. I helped to seize some of the illegally distributed brochures around the classes and began to think about the problem of social justice or rather social injustice and God. In communist propaganda, God was in the side of injustice because the communists regarded religion as an opium of the people that is as a means to deter the displeasure of the people and to keep them from fighting for a better life in the realm of reality.”21 In these years when Communism was on the rise, Aliya also had problems in his inner world, but, at the age of seventeen, he devoted himself to Islam. This decision was influenced by the deep anger against Communism and Fascism.

When Tito came to power in Yugoslavia, all communist groups desired to destroy other groups and break up the country. The strongest reaction was thought to come from Bosnians. Although only communist publications were allowed, Aliya and his colleagues continued their secret meetings to mobilise their generation. In the last years of the Tito administration, Islamic movements gained momentum. Tito was determined to fight this situation. He faced Alija’s resistance many times and put him in jail on several occasions.

Izetbegović was released in 1988 with a sudden decision. He had become very famous by the time he got out of prison. His books and articles were translated into many languages. It was obvious that Yugoslavia would collapse, and Alija came together with his friends.

Their desire for independence was deep, and they acted knowing that they had a historic duty towards their nation. A year later, in November 1989, Izetbegović established his party, and then, in the next year, he was elected to the parliament. His party and his person attracted great interest among people. Then, he was elected President on 18 November

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20 Jelavic Barbara: History of Balkans. Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries (Vol. 1). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1984. 359--433.

21 Akın Mahmut Hakkı: Culture and Civilization in the Thought of Alija Izetbegovic. In: Debates on Civilization in the Muslim World. Critical Perspectives on Islam and Modernity. Oxford Scholarship Online, 2016. 264. <10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199466887.001.0001 > Accessed: 9 January 2019.

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A N TA L L J Ó Z S E F K N OW L E D G E C E N T R E 1990, at the first free election in Bosnia and Herzegovina.22 Examining from Carl Schmitt’s perspective, one can easily see that Alija was good at deciding on his own country’s friends and enemies in a political way and never gave up his dreams on the process of independence.

On the other hand, Kosovo could gain independence, but it took place later than in the BiH because the leader of Kosovo, Ibrahim Rugova, even if he tried to show his determination on his country’ independence, was not accepted by Kosovan citizens as a leader like Alija Izetbegović.

If a comparison between Ibrahim Rugova and Izetbegović is made concerning their political representation, it seems that the former was always supported by Western powers but could not act as a unifying force of the society of Kosovo. Still, he was good at making his voice heard internationally in order to attract attention. For example, the Kosovo autonomous region belonged to Serbia during that time and was administered by the United Nations since 1999. In 1999, NATO had air operations in the former Yugoslavia to protect Kosovo’s ethnic Albanians who were subjected to Serbian forces.23 After seventy-eight days of air operations, the Serbian government agreed to withdraw troops from Kosovo. Ibrahim Rugova only gained popularity after he established his first political party in Kosovo.24 Later, at the elections, Rugova’s political party promised Kosovo a future independence, and his party was always remembered in a positive way comparing to his opponents. In domestic politics, Rugova’s party represented Kosovo, but, externally, Kosovo could not represent its country on its own, since it always relied on American assistance. This is the reason for the fact that Kosovo cannot become an independent state like Bosnia.25 This way, Kosovo’s situation and the question of whether it constitutes a precedent for other groups becomes more of a de facto political than a legal matter.26

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Conclusion The aim of this study was to examine the concept of political representation, postulating that, in Bosnia, there is a strong case for the identification of the state with the people. However, we observed that the same 22

Aydın Babuna: Geçmişten Günümüze Boşnaklar. Tarih Vakfı Yurt Yayınları, Istanbul, 2000. 15–19.

Péter Dobrowiecki: NATO Accession of the Western Balkan States: Challenges and Achievements.

In: NATO in the 21st Century, edited by Tamás Péter Baranyi–Péter Stepper. Antall József Knowledge Centre, Budapest 2019. 283--293.

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24 Ayhan Sener: Kosovo Problem and International Involvment. Is It Stabilazing of Destabilizing Factor in the Balkans Security? MA Thesis, Hacettepe University, Ankara, 2002.

25 Vincent L. Morelli: Kosovo: Background and U.S. Relations. Congressional Research Service Report, R44979. 13 August 2018. <https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R44979.pdf > Accessed: 9 January 2019.

26 Sherrill Stroschein. Discourse in Bosnia and Macedonia on the Independence of Kosovo: When and What is a Precedent? Europe-Asia Studies. 2013/5. 874–888.

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A N TA L L J Ó Z S E F K N OW L E D G E C E N T R E identification is quite artificial in the case of Kosovo. People gain their power through representation. Therefore, when we look at Carl Smitt’s theory on political representation, the main argument why representation of power is given to people in the formation of the State is that it is more deep, more comprehensive and more different than power struggle in governmet. If one is a powerful leader and has the capacity to have himself identified with the state, a country becomes a state. Accordingly, the way Bosnia became a state was due to the representative character of it leader, Alija Izetbegović. Rugova was never in such a position. According to Schmitt’s political representation theory, if there is representation of a leader, one can see the state. So the democratic character of this political representation is not provided by parliamentary representation.

Parliament is not necessary for the representation to be democratic.

What principally makes representation democratic is the identification between the ruler and ruled. Accordingly, rulers are people who look like us, and that is why it is possible to identify the state with them.

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