A NEW ANALYSIS OF THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN PERIOD IN THE HISTORY OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA IN THE BOOK »KROĆENJE BALKANSKOG NACIONALIZMA I HABSBURŠKA CIVILIZACIJSKA MISIJA U BOSNI« [TAMING BALKAN NATIONALISM AND HABSBURG CIVILIZING MISSION IN BOSNIA]

Autor analizira knjigu engleskog povjesničara R. Okeya o austrougarskoj vladavini u BiH i njegovu tezu o habsburškoj civilizacijskoj misiji kao sredstvu obuzdavanja balkanskih nacionalizama 19. stoljeća, ponajprije hrvatskog i srpskog. Naglašava Okeyevu naklonost političkim idejama Benjamina Kállaya i Istvana Búriana i ističe posebnosti njegove interpretacije metode i ciljeva srpske politike u BiH te političkog djelovanja vrhbosanskog nadbiskupa Josipa Stadlera. Zaključuje da će Okeyeve teze u dijelu hrvatske i bosanskohercegovačke znanstvene javnosti izazvati različite reakcije.In this article author analyses conclusions of the English historian Robin Okey regarding the Austro-Hungarian policy in Bosnia and Herzegovina, to which R. Okey referred as to »taming of Balkan nationalism« and spreading of cultural mission in this country. Author notes that R. Okey mainly investigated ideas and political plans of the minister Benjamin Kállay (1882-1903) and his successor István Burián (1903-1912), and that Okey’s interpretation is rather strained with his appreciation of such political ideas. Moreover, author emphasizes that Okay’s opinions about the Serbian policy up to 1914 differ from the viewpoints of the previous historiography, which is visible from Okey’s conclusions about Kállay’s decisions regarding the case of Sava Kosanović metropolitan of Sarajevo, as well as concerning the goals of the Serbian ecclesiastical and educational autonomy. Similarly, Okley’s opinions about political aims of organization Mlada Bosna [Young Bosnia] do not show explicit affiliation to the Great Serbian ideas and policy. Therefore, author stresses that R. Okey did not show enough arguments for such conclusions, and theses such as that the aforementioned youth organization was a part of local Balkan tradition of killing tyrants, or alleged tradition of Bosnian Orthodox believers to oppose foreign ecclesiastical hierarchy. Consequently, such idea-pattern led Okey to the thesis that Habsburg period was an episode of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian history that ended in violence and mutual bitterness, as it was similar after the communists’ period. Therefore, author of this article concludes that Okey’s study, although provokes many controversies, should be inspirational and unavoidable book in the future investigations of the relations between Habsburg Monarchy and Bosnia and Herzegovina