BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

• Official name: Bosna i Hercegovina (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
• Location: Central Europe
• International organisations: Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, United Nations
• Borders: Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro
• Coastline: Adriatic Sea
• Land area: 51,129 Km2
• Population: 4,600,000
• Annual GDP (PPP) per capita: US$6,300 (2009 CIA estimate). World ranking: 106
• Ethnicity: Bosniak 43%, Serb 31%, Croat 17%, other 9% (including 6% self-described "Yugoslavs"). (Bosniak is the term now used for Bosnian Moslems. Bosniaks and Serbs are not really separate ethnic groups since the only difference between them is religious.)
• Languages: The great majority speak Serbo-Croatian, but the three national groups insist on regarding this as three separate languages: Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian.
• Religion: Sunni Moslem 40%, Christian 50% (Orthodox 31%, Catholic 15%, Protestant 4%).
• Form of government: Federal parliamentary democratic republic. Bosnia and Herzegovina is a federation between the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Federacija Bosne i Hercegovine), which covers the Bosniak and Croatian areas, and the Serbian Republic (Republika Srpska). The Federation is divided into ten cantons, which allow local self-government for the Bosniak and Croatian communities. The Brcko district is not part of either of these entities but is administered by the Bosnia and Herzegovina federal government under international supervision. The international community, through the Office of the High Representative (OHR) retains a supervisory role in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• Capital: Sarajevo
• Constitution: The Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina came into effect with the signing of the Dayton Accords on 14 December 1995.
• Head of state: Bosnia and Herzegovina has a three-member Presidency, elected by direct universal suffrage for a four-year term. The three members of the Presidency are elected by and represent the three ethnic communities described above. The post of Chairman of the Presidency rotates among the three members every eight months. The three members of the Presidency elected in 2010 were Bakir Izetbegovic (Bosniak), Nebojsa Radmanovic (Serbian) and Zeljko Komsic (Croatian). Komsic became Chairman of the Presidency on 10 July 2010.
• Head of government: The Prime Minister, appointed by the Chairman of the Presidency. The Prime Minister is accountable to the legislature.
• Legislature: Bosnia and Herzegovina has a bicameral legislature, the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina, consisting of the House of Representatives (Zastupnicki Dom), which has 42 members elected for four-year terms by proportional representation from the two federal entities, and the House of Peoples (Dom Naroda), consisting of 15 members appointed by the federal entities.
• Electoral authority: The Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina conducts national elections.
• Freedom House 2011 rating: Political Rights 4, Civil Liberties 3
• Transparency International Corruption Index: 32% (91 of 178 countries rated)
• Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom 2010 Index: 86.5% (47 of 178 countries rated)
• Heritage Foundation Economic Freedom 2010 Index: 57.5% (104 of 178 countries rated)

Political history

Bosnia and Herzegovina were part of the mediaeval Kingdom of Serbia until they were overrun by the Ottomans in 1463. During the 400 years of Ottoman rule many Bosnians converted to Islam. As Ottoman rule weakened in the 19th century, Austrian influence increased, and in 1878 the area came under Austrian administration, while remaining under nominal Ottoman sovereignty. In 1908 Austria annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina outright.

In 1918 Bosnia and Herzogovina became part of the new South Slav kingdom, called the Kingdom of Yugoslavia from 1929. When Yugoslavia was dismembered by the Germans in 1941, Bosnia was placed within the collaborationist Croatian state, while Herzegovina was annexed by Italy. In 1945 Bosnia and Herzegovina became a republic of the new communist Yugoslavia.

As Yugoslavia disintegrated after 1990, conflict broke out in Bosnia and Herzogovina, with the Bosniaks wanting independence, the Serbs wanting to remain part of Serb-dominated Yugoslavia, and the Croats wanting their areas to be annexed by Croatia. Civil war broke out following the declaration of independence in 1992, accompanied by "ethnic cleansing" and many war crimes, committed mainly but not exclusively by the Serbs.

After a number of failed peace plans, the United States brokered the Dayton Accords in 1995, which created a federal state of Bosnia and Herzegovina with a very weak federal government and virtual independence for the Serbs in the Serbian Republic. The Bosniaks and the Croats were placed in an uneasy partnership in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, within which each community administers its own areas.

These arrangements ended the civil war, but Bosnia and Herzegovina remains a country in name only, since neither the Serbs nor the Croats have any real commitment to it. The precarious peace is supervised on behalf of the Dayton signatories and the European Union by the Office of the High Representative, currently Valentin Inzko of Austria. Some of those responsible for war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina are being tried or pursued by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague.

Politics in Bosnia and Herzegovina is organised along ethnic lines. The Serbian parties have no real interest in national issues since they still desire secession and unification with Serbia. The largest Serbian party is currently the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), which combines Serbian nationalism with social democratic politics. The Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) is an openly secessionist party with close links to right-wing politicians in Serbia. The Croatians vote mainly for the Croatian Democratic Union, which favours cession of the Croatian-majority areas to Croatia. The major Bosniak parties are the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) and the Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina (SBH). The Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina (SDP), tries to win support across all three communities, with limited success.

The 2010 election reflected the fragmented state of Bosnia and Herzegovina politics, with 12 parties winning seats in the House of Representatives, but with no party winning more than eight seats. Government is sustained by an uneasy alliance of the Bosniak parties and the SNSD. The result is prolonged deadlocks over legislation and the frequent intervention of the Office of the High Representative to push forward measures to reform the country's public services and ready it for membership of the EU. Vjekoslav Bevanda has been Prime Minister since January 2012.

Freedom House's 2011 report on Bosnia and Herzegovina says: "Bosnia and Herzegovina is an electoral democracy. In general, voters can freely elect their representatives... Corruption remains a serious problem, and enforcement of legislation designed to combat it has been weak, due in part to the lack of strong and independent anticorruption agencies... The constitution and the human rights annex to the Dayton Peace Accords provide for freedom of the press, but this right is not always respected in practice... Political pressure on journalists intensified ahead of the 2010 elections, and preelection coverage largely favored incumbent parties and politicians... Citizens enjoy full freedom of religion, but only in areas where their particular group represents a majority... The constitution provides for freedoms of assembly and association, and the various levels of government generally respect these rights in practice... Despite evidence of growing independence, the judiciary remains influenced by nationalist political parties and faces pressure from the executive branch."

Updated January 2012