The 15th International Conference on

Unity and Plurality in Europe

In memory of the life and work of Ivo Banac
26-27 July, 2020

International Forum Bosnia is pleased to report the opening of the 15th International Conference on Unity and Plurality in Europe following the successful holding of the Inaugural Panel in memory of Professor Ivo Banac from 16:00 to 19:30 on July 26th, 2020.

This year’s conference is dedicated to the memory of Professor Ivo Banac, who sadly died on June 30th. Ivo Banac was the Bradford Durfee Professor of History at Yale, and also taught at the University of Zagreb, the Catholic University in Zagreb, the Central European University, and the Sarajevo School of Science and Technology, where he was Honorary Dean of the School of Political Studies. He was widely recognised as the leading historian of the Western Balkans and his books The National Question in Yugoslavia and With Stalin against Tito are considered required reading. He was widely known and respected in the region for his political engagement and commitment to civil rights and justice, not least through his work as the head of the Croatian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, and his insightful and incisive political analysis and commentary. He was particularly well known for his critiques of Tudjmanism in Croatia, of the intertwined legacies of Communism and Fascism throughout the region, and of the abuse of religion for political purposes. Finally, he was a firm, outspoken, and unwavering friend of Bosnia, both during the war of the 1990s and since. We, at International Forum Bosnia, have been honoured to have him as a friend and colleague since our foundation. He was a frequent guest and speaker at our events and a regular attendee at our conferences, especially the International Conference on Unity and Plurality held annually in Mostar during the months of July and August, where for many years he spoke on an annual joint panel on Developments in Nationalism in the Western Balkans, along with Sonja Biserko and Rusmir Mahmutćehajić.

The Inaugural Panel in memory of Professor Ivo Banac was made up of former colleagues and friends:
• Professor Mile Babić of the Franciscan Seminary in Sarajevo, spoke on Professor Banac''s critiques of nationalism, fascism, communism, on the abuse of religion, and on his commitment to liberal values.
• Professor Rusmir Mahmutćehajić, the President of International Forum Bosnia, spoke on Professor Banac''s analysis of the first and second Yugoslavia and of Bosnia''s place within them, the legacy of communism in the region, and the danger represented by exclusionary ethnic nationalisms and how to combat their spread.
• Sonja Biserko, the head of the Serbian Helsinki Committee on Human Rights, spoke on Professor Banac''s understanding of the first Yugoslavia as a flawed framework and of the second Yugoslavia as a distorted one, as well as on the long-term causes of the collapse of that framework, with an emphasis on Serbian and Croatian relations, the role of Tito, and the failed liberalisation of the 1970s.
• Professor Šerbo Rastoder of Nikšić and Podgorica universities spoke on Professor Banac''s pioneering work on Montegnegrin history and national question there.
• Professor Norman Naimark of Stanford University spoke on his lifelong relationship with Professor Banac, his standing in the US, and his qualities as a teacher and scholar.
• Professor Martin Previšić of the University of Zagreb spoke of Professor Banac as a mentor and his impact on intellectual, political, and public life in Croatia and particularly on the de-ideologisation of history there.
• Professor Marko Attila Hoare of the Sarajevo School of Science and Technology presented an overview of Professor Banac''s work and achievements as an historian and the particular virtues of his approach.
• Dr Andrea Feldman closed the panel, speaking about her late husband''s legacy and final days.
Professor Irena Gross of Princeton, Professor Jasmina Beširović Regan of Yale, Professor Ejup Ganić of the SSST, and Ms. Rabia Ali also presented brief recollections of Professor Banac as a friend and colleague. Attendence at the panel was by invitation only and included 40 leading academics and public intellectuals from the region and the United States.

Because of the coronavirus, the panel was held online using Zoom. Edited videos of the presentations about and tributes to Professor Banac will be made available for viewing via the International Forum Bosnia website.

There will be a further three virtual panels held over the month of August on Religion and Public Life, The Bosnian Question in Historical, Cultural and Geopolitical Context, and Nationalisms, Sovereignty, and European Integration. The papers submitted to the conference panels will be published in a special issue of Forum Bosnae dedicated to Professor Banac.

The Friends of IFB

The work of International Forum Bosnia is supported by a wide range of organizations and individuals.