ABSTRACT
Bosnia and Herzegovina has been on a fault line between empires and religions for a long time. If competition among distinct dialects for the right to be anointed ‘languages’ may culminate in tests of military prowess, how acrimonious must conflict be to lead to the declaration of the Serbo-Croatian spoken by Croats as a distinct ‘Croat’ language? This chapter examines civil-military relations in Bosnia in the spirit of the above question. Wars fought with the ferocity of the Bosnian conflict require an examination of the traits of civil society sustaining violence. The Yugoslav National Army, after its defeat in Slovenia and its equivocal performance in Croatia, fought briefly in Bosnia where its troops evacuated from Slovenia relocated. Bosnia has always been a microcosm of Yugoslavia, as it may remain if it survives in confederal form. The problem with Yugoslavia was that it was a marriage of convenience, bringing together in an explosive combination a militarily and politically superior partner.
