The Croatian issue and the evolution of the political system in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the stabilization period (1995–2004)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the evolution of the state-legal position of the Bosnian Croats in the context of the political transformation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, caused by the gradual revision of the Dayton Accords. From the author’s point of view, originally the political system of the postwar BiH was a compromise option between the Vance–Owen and the Owen–Stoltenberg peace plans, which did not fully satisfy any of the main national communities in BiH. The Bosnian Croats, as the smallest constituent people, did not get their own entity, although at the beginning of the ethno-civil confrontation in BiH the Bosnian Croats raised the question of national equality and the federalization of the country. Special attention in the article has been paid to the institution of the international oversight, which has limited the sovereignty of BiH — the Office of the High Representative. The author details the amending of the election law as well as the process of the constitutional reformation, initiated by the High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch, and demonstrates that the centralization policy in BiH is pursued by external, supranational organizations in order to integrate BiH into euro-atlantic structures to the disadvantage of the Bosnian Croat political interests. As a result of the reforms FBiH, formally the Entity of Croats and Muslims, de facto was put under control of Bosnian Muslims.