Political Implications of the COVID Epidemic and Sources of Power Authority: Comparative Study of BiH, Croatia and Serbia
Faruk Boric
Belt and Road Initiative Promotion and Development Center, BiH
Abstract
Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Croatia and Serbia, which are three neighboring countries that have shared a common state framework in Yugoslavia for the most of the 20th century, not only share many common elements of history and culture, but also have significant differences that are also manifested regarding the future projection of Euro-Atlantic integration of the countries. Croatia is a full member of the EU and NATO for years now, and from that position, had faced the pandemic that hit the region in early March. Serbia has expressed a willingness to join the EU, while it has a negative attitude towards NATO, trying to take a neutral position in relation to the world’s largest political centers, including Washington, Moscow, Brussels and Beijing. On the third side, BiH, despite declarative expressions of political will towards Euro-Atlantic integration and opposition of Serbian political parties in the Republic of Srpska entity when it comes to NATO membership, lags behind on that path with numerous problems and ethnic tensions between political parties which share power on various levels of government representing different nations. The first cases of COVID-19 virus occurred at approximately the same time in all three states, which since the 1990s have had complex relationships burdened not only by different interpretations of events from the end of the twentieth century (and even earlier), through existing disputes involving open border issues, migration policies which include migrants from Syria but also other countries from Algeria to Pakistan, energy policy, Yugoslavia legacy, ethnic and minority issues, and, as we said, projections of the future EU and NATO integration.
The initial thesis of this study is that the three mentioned post-Yugoslav states at the beginning of the epidemic adopted similar measures in terms of state security, public health and national economy, but communicated them with their own publics on different models, inheriting, despite numerous political and cultural similarities, different political styles of management. These different styles will be the subject of analysis and comparison, especially in terms of the relationship between politics and the profession(s). Furthermore, given that two of the three countries (Serbia and Croatia) conducted general elections during the epidemic and that BiH was preparing to hold local elections in the autumn, we would compare how the epidemic – as a topic and context – reflected on the election campaign and election results, and how the epidemic is reflected in the case of BiH where campaign de facto have started already. The following hypothesis is that the COVID-19 epidemic has strengthened the rule of existing political elites despite the objects coming from part of the general and professional public especially regarding the transparency and consistency of certain decisions.
The basis of our research field will be official documents of the authorities in the research countries, media appearances of political leaders and other entities involved in crisis communication related to COVID-19 epidemic, as well as news from public media and state agencies as authentic transmitters of public policies.
Keywords: COVID-19 epidemic, political styles, sources of authority, power, political and professional elite, crisis communication, election campaign, elections