The Structure of an Illicit Cohabitation: Analysis of the Decisionist Model of Politics in Bosnia and Herzegovina Cover Image

Struktura nedopuštene kohabitacije: Analiza decizionističkoga modela politike u Bosni i Hercegovini
The Structure of an Illicit Cohabitation: Analysis of the Decisionist Model of Politics in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Author(s): Dražen Barbarić
Subject(s): Politics, Governance, Government/Political systems, Politics and Identity
Published by: Hrvatsko politološko društvo
Keywords: Bosnia and Herzegovina; decisionism; consociational democracy; conviviality; ethnopolitics; High Representative;

Summary/Abstract: The paper deals with the analysis of decisionist paradigm of the political in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The first segment of the paper sets a brief theoretical basis of decisionism on which the analysis is based. The second segment is focused on the clarification of two key causes of the decisionism matrix in B&H. It deals with a tripartite sovereignty as the foundation of statehood and its’ joint consociational elements which are built in a political system. In the third part of the paper, the four forms of manifestation of the decisionist model are analysed. The phenomenon of the decision-making legitimising without regard for the institutions is explained, as well as the neglecting of the role of legislative authorities which are, in the decisionist matrix, considered to be "chat rooms" without real power. Furthermore, the paper explains the feedback of the national communities which, through elections and other forms of expression of the public opinion, act as retroactive approvers of their own ethnopolitics. The phenomenon of coexistence of national political elites is then analysed, as they keep one another alive and complement each other on both symbolic and functional levels. They need each other in order to survive in the political sphere even though they act as political enemies. Finally, the paper explains the role of international community, primarily through the institution of the High Representative which does not only legitimise decisionist model but often assumes an active role in it as well.

  • Issue Year: 2021
  • Issue No: 18
  • Page Range: 0-20
  • Page Count: 21
  • Language: Croatian