Bosanskohercegovačka dijaspora u vrtlogu globalnih migracija: izazovi i šanse za Bosnu i Hercegovinu
Bosnian-Herzegovinian diaspora in the flow of global migrations: challenges and opportunities for Bosnia and Herzegovina

Summary/Abstract: A characteristic of the time in which we live, often called the era of globalization, is the opportunity for new forms of interaction and exchange between individuals, institutions and states, not only on a local and regional but also on a much broader global level. However, when we talk about and conceptualize globalization, global processes are very often reduced to a bare exchange or global flow of goods, services and capital. What is often overlooked or discounted is a much more interesting and less regulated parallel process of exchange of information, ideas and knowledge, which have resisted mere commoditization. Ideally, these global processes disregard traditional obstacles to exchange, such as space, time and socio-political barriers. The Bosnian-Herzegovinian diaspora – with over a million people living in some hundred different countries – is a striking example of both the global flow of people and ideas and the various ways this directly affects the country of origin (e.g. ‘brain drain’ vs. ‘brain gain’). The paper reflects on some of the challenges and opportunities this global flow poses for Bosnia-Herzegovina and for the (academic) Bosnian diaspora. It focuses on the social and human capital of the Bosnian diaspora and its potential for ‘investment’ in BiH, and offers suggestions for future forms of collaboration and networking between bosnia and its diaspora.

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