Constitutional aspects of the Croatian Community of Herceg-Bosna

Book review

Abstract

The political context in which the Croatian Community of Herceg-Bosna came to be was defined by two political moments – an expressed desire of the Serbian people to join Great Serbia on the one hand and the Muslim (Bosnian) attempt to create a concept of a unified BiH where an ethnic-territorial Bosnian majority would be present on the other. In such circumstances, the official policy of the Republic of Croatia, especially the one by the first president dr. Franjo Tuđman, was unfoundedly prescribed by the Great Serbia policy and Bosnian fundamentalism with a basic thesis that he, along with Milošević, “divided” Bosnia and Herzegovina on meetings in Karađorđevo and Tikveš. However, that thesis is rebuttable on two bases. Firstly, the carriers for the idea of Great Serbia with Milošević were “armed to the neck” by the military arsenal of the JNA. Secondly, the democratic rule in Croatia with Tuđman at its forefront was very poorly armed, forced to buy very expensive weaponry on the “black market”: According to this, Milošević needed no military-political agreement on BiH. At that time, the fall of Vukovar and the occupation of one third of the national territory of Croatia point to the fact that there is no basis for the thesis on the “division” of BiH between Tuđman and Milošević.