Abstract
Twenty-one years after entering into force of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (the Dayton Agreement), it seems that the political situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina has not significantly changed. The basic achievements of the Dayton Agreement, such as stopping the war and country’s democratization and institution building processes are evident, however the agreement failed to create a politically stable functional state and the united nation accepted by all its citizens. On the contrary, the agreement significantly contributed to the creation of divided society (and political community) composed of three ‘constituent peoples’ and others. Neither social nor political community stood the test of time. The country could not meet the requirements and standards set by the European Union, especially the constitutional reform that is claimed to be the precondition to other reforms. Then, despite agreement’s significant accomplishments in the field of human rights protection it generated State political structure based on the principle of the three constituent peoples’ exclusive ethnic representation, all at the expense of rights of individual.
Highlights
Political and ethnic challenged the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina has been under the political integration slogan, undergoing artificial institutional reanimation under the International Community’s patronage
The Preamble of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina prevents the state to create the legal environment in which the power-sharing system would be organized within the civil society, whilst at the same time it favor’s the ethno-nationalism and collective rights of the ethno-national-religious communities at the expense of an individual or the citizen (Anex 4, Dayton Peace Agreement)
As long as the ethnonational identity concept is the only source of citizens’ identification, and the ‘constituent peoples’ the constitutional category, Dayton Peace Accords Two Decades After the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina will continue to be essentially dysfunctional in many aspects of a well-organized state
Summary
Political and ethnic challenged the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina has been under the political integration slogan, undergoing artificial institutional reanimation under the International Community’s patronage. The existing concept of ‘constituent peoples’ as the state-building nations and the relation of it towards the constitutional and legal position of ‘Others’ constitutes discrimination par excellence Such constitution represents the institutional discrimination of several hundreds of thousands of citizens who do not belong to ‘the chosen ones’, including those who opted to exercise their ‘not to belong to’ legitimate right. The national homogenization process is still alert and active obstacle on the path of the economic and political reintegration of the country and the society, with active role in the processes of decomposing the newly emerging state institutions It appears that, as long as the ethnonational identity concept is the only (or the most potent) source of citizens’ identification, and the ‘constituent peoples’ the constitutional category, Dayton Peace Accords Two Decades After the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina will continue to be essentially dysfunctional in many aspects of a well-organized state. Any state on the path towards the European Union, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, must develop the single and functional state, well-organized government, rule of law and protection of individual rights and freedoms
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