On July 21, 2022, the Department of International Relations and European Studies at International Burch University hosted 25 students, along with prof. dr. Denis Sullivan and assist. prof. dr. Mladen Mrdalj, from Northeastern University in Boston for a discussion between Azem Dervišević, the president of the World Congress of Bosniaks, and assoc. prof. dr. Alija Kožljak, the department head.
The students from Northeastern University are visiting Bosnia and Herzegovina with prof. Sullivan and prof. Mrdalj as a part of the Dialogue of Civilizations, which engages students to visit other places in the world to study critical issues facing society at both the local and global levels.
Mr. Dervišević and prof. Kožljak spoke to the students about the local aspects of contemporary international security issues, facing Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Western Balkans region, and the world from their personal outlook, based on their multiyear experience in the country and abroad.
The discussion focused on the impact of international events, particularly the Russian aggression on Ukraine, on the local context in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also the region as well. Prof. Kožljak took an inside-outside approach, discussing the perspective from Bosnia and Herzegovina, while Mr. Dervišević took an outside-inside approach, discussing the perspective of the Bosnian and Herzegovinian diaspora, i.e., abroad.
Critical emphasis was also placed on the historical context contributing to our contemporary understandings of transient issues, including specifically the recent past, including the dissolution of Yugoslavia, the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and multiyear efforts at state building in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region in general.
The students actively participated, asking myriad questions, and then networked with their colleagues from the Department of International Relations and European Studies, sharing thoughts on their particular viewpoints on contemporary security issues facing Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Western Balkans region, and the world, building on their first-hand experiences from their visit to the region.
