A Failure of Norm Diffusion: An Analysis of Saudi Export of Salafist Norms to Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract: Saudi Arabia has been exporting Salafism, a fundamentalist version of Islam, to Bosnia and Herzegovina since the 1992-95 Yugoslav secession war. However, Salafism has been mostly rejected, even though one might expect Bosnian society to be susceptible to radicalism. The purpose of this paper is to make empirical and theoretical contributions to norm diffusion theory, by closely mapping the reasons the Salafist norms have not succeeded in diffusing to Bosnian society. I use process tracing on a case study of Bosnia and Herzegovina, looking at two main variables: elite structure and cultural match. I develop a typology of elite structure with two ideal types: anarchistic and monopolistic structure. I find that the monopolistic position of the Islamic Community in conjunction with the low cultural match has hindered Salafist norm diffusion. The paper is based on official communication from the Islamic Community, newspapers articles, interview studies, and broad second-hand literature.