The Reproduction of Peripherality during the Covid-19 Pandemic: An Analysis of Bosnia and Herzegovina

This article situates itself in the theoretical space between world-systems theory and postcolonial theory, exploring how the state of peripherality and concomitant dependency is reproduced in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Covid-19 pandemic. The dependent position of the Bosnian protectorate in the world system, its heritage of colonial rule and peripherality, as well as post-colonial influences of Pax-Americana on state constitution and state capture, have all contributed to the inability of the divided state to adequately respond to the pandemic. The article reveals a multifaceted dependence of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the Western core economies in relation to aid, influx of remittances, protective equipment, as well as a technological dependence on vaccines. It, however, also demonstrates that the inability of the core economies to adequately support the Balkan periphery during the pandemic, results in its eventual drift away from the Western hegemonic influence and towards new opportunities facilitated via the Chinese ‘mask and vaccine diplomacy’, causing multifocal dependencies. In the same vein, the pandemic also becomes the stage for competition between the Eastern and Western companies for mining concessions needed to secure the green transition in the core economies, as a new wave of primitive accumulation ravages through the European periphery. As a result of this new scramble for the Balkans, and amidst the global shift towards multipolarity, we see a stable reproduction of peripherality in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Western Balkans, and re-emergence of ethnic conflict in previously disputed areas, where ethnic groups identify with the interests of their respective hegemons.