A War by Other Means? Conceptions of Democracy and the Election Law in Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Main Author: Ivan Pepić
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb, Croatia 2018-01-01
• Series: Anali Hrvatskog Politološkog Društva
• Subjects: Constitutional Court; election law; Bosniak-Croat Federation; concepts of democracy
• Online Access: https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/315494

This article discusses the political effects of two different conceptions of democracy in ethnically deeply divided societies. It considers the conflicts with clear historical roots by analysing the case of the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina which involves two irreconcilable ideas of democracy expressed by the political elites of two communities, the Bosniaks and the Croats. The first part explains the conflict between Bosniak and Croat political elites, which have respectively, been trying to impose either the majoritarian or the consociational system since the 1990s. The second part discusses the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights and of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina on electoral rules. It is argued that the imposition of integrationist-like rules and the suspension of consociational arrangements in the Election Law has increased divisions between the two ethnic communities. Finally, the article analyses the proposed amendments to election rules submitted to both state and entity parliaments, which confirm the existence of clearly irreconcilable visions of democracy within the Bosniak-Croat Federation.