Half a life: Bipolar divisions within Post-Dayton Bosnia-Herzegovina Cover Image

Poločas rozpadu? Dvojí štěpení daytonské Bosny a Hercegoviny
Half a life: Bipolar divisions within Post-Dayton Bosnia-Herzegovina

Author(s): Ondřej Žíla
Subject(s): Political Sciences, Sociology, Political history, Recent History (1900 till today), Post-War period (1950 - 1989), Post-Communist Transformation
Published by: Porta Balkanica, z. s.
Keywords: Bosnia-Herzegovina; Dayton; coexistence; ethnic vs. civic arrangement of society; elections;

Summary/Abstract: This paper analyzes two key questions: first, why nationalist parties have been dominating Bosnian politics since its declaration of independence in 1992 and, second, why this republic has been in a state of prolonged paralysis since the end of the war in 1995. Based on an analysis of the post-Dayton era, this study demonstrates that the roots of ongoing difficulties in Bosnia-Herzegovina lie in arguments about Bosnian independence and administration of the country. Because of these controversies, Bosnia-Herzegovina erupted in riots and eventually war in 1992. The Dayton Peace Agreement succeeded in reducing actual combats among the three constitutive nations, but the peacebuilding process failed to settle these arguments. Bosnian society remains divided between those who support an ethnic arrangement of the country, and those who prefer a civic arrangement. Another division is between those who are socially marginalized and those who participate effectively in the post-Dayton political system.

  • Issue Year: 10/2018
  • Issue No: 01+02
  • Page Range: 6-15
  • Page Count: 10
  • Language: Czech
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