The Chill of Diplomacy

After the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina made a decision on appointing new ambassadors and consuls, the names on that list will spread far and wide across the diplomatic and consular missions of this country around the world. Since appointment decisions are made by consensus, it is evident that the Presidency had, as is commonly said, a high degree of agreement, and that each member selected future diplomats according to their own wishes without interference from the cabinets of their two colleagues. National criteria have been satisfied, the key for every lock in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The long-standing practice of sending deserving party cadres to diplomatic missions, as a form of reward for party engagement, has long since erased the public habit of asking, with each new batch of ambassadors and consuls, the question – what will these people bring to Bosnia and Herzegovina on the diplomatic front, and how will their performance be measured?

The position, power, strength, and reputation of any state, and its place in the complex hierarchy of world events, depend on the skill of representing a country's, government's, or ruler's interests internationally. Great powers understood the power of diplomacy hundreds of years ago, so in serious countries that are actors, not just mere observers and servants of the great in international relations, exceptionally educated, capable, and intelligent people are delegated to diplomatic circles, ready to engage in the intricate web of fighting for the country's interests. In short – every serious country trains its diplomats, knowing that its international position depends on their ability.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, at least according to professional diplomats, everything is different. The post-Dayton logic of the ruling circles has turned diplomacy into a training ground for provincial party personnel combinations, so diplomatic structures have been filled with cadres who have no basic understanding of diplomacy and international relations.

The political environment in Bosnia and Herzegovina, marked for years by blockades, delays, obstructions, and conflicts, has also provided our country's diplomatic representatives around the world with a comfortable position – there are no clear criteria by which their results are measured, and thus no standards for accountability. On the other hand, due to political turmoil, some would say even conscious anti-state actions, a clear foreign policy strategy has practically not existed for a long time. Hints of various reforms of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian diplomatic pyramid have mostly remained without results. On one hand, they are prevented by strong party-godfather-relative political practice, and on the other – they have fallen into the trap of personnel disorganization in institutions responsible for the country's foreign policy activities.

Experts have long warned that filling diplomatic positions through political bargaining has already caused great damage to Bosnia and Herzegovina on the international stage. Political goals, such as approaching Euro-Atlantic integrations, have been slowed by internal relations, and the economic results of diplomatic activities are questionable from multiple sides. The achievements of Bosnian-Herzegovinian diplomacy, expressed in mere mathematics, lead any rational person to wonder – who represents the country in the world, what are the references of these people, and on what basis did they end up in diplomacy? Research by some portals, conducted five or six years ago, showed all the absurdity of the structure of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian diplomatic-consular network and its personnel paradoxes – among ambassadors, for example, there are more former meat and poultry producers than trained diplomats. The often-stated assessments that Bosnia and Herzegovina does not have enough trained diplomats do not hold up, and this cannot be an excuse for sending deserving cadres along party lines to represent the country, while being pre-emptively amnestied from any responsibility for their results.