Original scientific paper
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Unfinished story, society divided and an inability to constitute political communities
Paško Radica
Abstract
After the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement, which stopped the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) twenty years ago, political and economic stability has not yet been established in that country. Bosnian-Herzegovinian plural society has no common vision of political unity, which prevents the establishment of a political community. Problems of legitimacy also complicate the process of globalization as well as constitutional solutions imposed by the international community on the Bosnian-Herzegovinian society in the transition period. Domestic political elites fail to reach consensus on any significant issue, while the intellectual scene are constantly clashing with the doctrines of the Communitarians and the Liberal. The primary objective of this paper is to try to answer the question - is BiH possible to establish a political community based on the Dayton constitutional settlement, or if not, what reforms need to be implemented to bring BiH closer to that goal. The constitution of a political community that will base its legitimacy on the support of all three constituent peoples and all citizens is the most important precondition for stabilizing the democratic political order. However, opposing interests, goals and identities are currently being shown to be insurmountable obstacles.
Keywords
unfinished country; Bosnia and Herzegovina; democracy; political community; constitutionalism; identities
Hrčak ID:
185159
URI
Publication date:
23.9.2016.
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