Bosnia and Herzegovina: the history, the politics

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a successor state to the former Yugoslavia. It had previously been a republic, along with Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia. The remainder of those countries - despite some border disagreements have formed normal democracies. But Bosnia's High Representative is the ultimate decision maker in the country and they are not elected by the Bosnian people but is chosen by the Peace Implementation Council (PIC) as part of the Dayton Peace Agreement. Does this put it in a similar situation to Kosovo? Or is Bosnia more like Croatia? And can Bosnia join the European Union?

The constituent entities of Bosnia are the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska, with the entities sharing the condiminium of the Brčko District. It is populated by three main ethnic groups: the Bosniaks, the Bosnian Serbs and the Bosnian Croats. These are generally respectively: Muslims, Othodox and Catholic. The government is run along consociational principles.

There are claims that the USA and NATO or the European Union have total control over the country and so Bosnia is not sovereign. Is this fair? And is the EUFOR Althea mission controversial? Are there other factors? Should Milorad Dodik's contacts with Vladimir Putin, Aleksandar Vučić or Viktor Orbán raise concerns?

[RealityCheck]

Man this channel is something. I am surprised it has so little followers. In terms of geopolitics is very insightful.

[pedrovazquez]

I visited Bosnia Herzegovina in late 2021. The tension is still palpable; however, if they come together it has a lot of potential. The country is breathtakingly beautiful, with great people

[Paxobscura]

Thank you, it was very interesting to learn about this less known country !

[idvarhurd]

BiH used to be for me a terra incognita, from what I just heard, it's more complex than I could imagine. Thank you for your work!

[almol]

The explanation this expert woman gave for Brčko was just to say something.

[Untrus]

Problem with Bosnia is that no matter how much autonomy you give to individual ethnicities they will always want more you give the maximum they want independence to the point where even the most basic of institutions on state level that are required to enter the EU will be challanged none of the proposed constitutional changes challenge or threaten Republika Srpska(entity within BiH) to a prosperous administrative unit within the greater Bosnian State but it threatens a independent Republika Srpska so it’s a No Go while always blaming the other side for supposedly undermining the Constitution when all state level institutions were established through the parliament or OHR which are the basic principals of annex 4 the international community needs to realize their mistake and thankfully they have with the most recent OHR laws that criminalize obstructions by local leaders against the BiH state the only future for a prosperous Bosnia is a Decentralized state with strong State Level Institutions that can defend itself against the local and separatist leadership. Once strong institutions are established at the state level the foreigners can go home…

[chrishanzek]

The OHR was part of the Dayton Agreement; it did not come later. The office was meant to be temporary until the country could run itself properly but 30 years later they are not there yet.

[tarik]

Let's take note of this moment in time. Right now saying "I want Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs to have equal rights on the entire bosnian territory" is considered a controversial even dangerous statement.

[JimmyOhAnnrachain-otmd]

B&H has so many similarities to Northern Ireland its so crazy. Even the power sharing is the same in Northern Ireland. But it must make governing very difficult like Northern Ireland had no government for like 3 years because Republicans and Unionists couldnt agree on things and walked out of government so I'd imagine its very similar there. In B&H does each neighbourhood express their heritage with murals and flags? Like in Belfast one road will have Irish flags and painting of Irish historical figures then in the next road you will see the British flag and paintings of the late Queen. And also theres more 'peace walls' today than there was during the IRA years and the peace walls separate neighbourhoods

[MMerlyn]

So they're basically not a sovereign, democratic country, should fit greatly in the EU.

[HectorMMoreno-hnrt]

the butchers are readying the swords yet again.

[AdamPavlovic-tz]

There was no conpromise. There was brute force. Force is not democracy.

[mvs]

Informative for sure but seemed tilted against Bosnian Serbians. It is euro centeric presentation.

[AdamPavlovic-tz]

Why are Serbs disaapearing frim Bosnia if it so good to them? Serbs live in Bosnia since at least 630 AD. How come they are now minority in their own country? What happened?