Bosnia-Herzegovina
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Bosnia-Herzegovina 2016 Country Review http://www.countrywatch.com Table of Contents Chapter 1 1 Country Overview 1 Country Overview 2 Key Data 3 Bosnia-Herzegovina 4 Eastern Europe 5 Chapter 2 7 Political Overview 7 History 8 Political Conditions 18 Political Risk Index 46 Political Stability 61 Freedom Rankings 76 Human Rights 88 Government Functions 90 Government Structure 92 Principal Government Officials 99 Leader Biography 105 Leader Biography 105 Foreign Relations 108 National Security 118 Defense Forces 119 Chapter 3 122 Economic Overview 122 Economic Overview 123 Nominal GDP and Components 129 Population and GDP Per Capita 131 Real GDP and Inflation 132 Government Spending and Taxation 133 Money Supply, Interest Rates and Unemployment 134 Foreign Trade and the Exchange Rate 135 Data in US Dollars 136 Energy Consumption and Production Standard Units 137 Energy Consumption and Production QUADS 139 World Energy Price Summary 140 CO2 Emissions 141 Agriculture Consumption and Production 142 World Agriculture Pricing Summary 145 Metals Consumption and Production 146 World Metals Pricing Summary 149 Economic Performance Index 150 Chapter 4 162 Investment Overview 162 Foreign Investment Climate 163 Foreign Investment Index 165 Corruption Perceptions Index 178 Competitiveness Ranking 189 Taxation 198 Stock Market 199 Partner Links 200 Chapter 5 201 Social Overview 201 People 202 Human Development Index 205 Life Satisfaction Index 208 Happy Planet Index 219 Status of Women 229 Global Gender Gap Index 231 Culture and Arts 241 Etiquette 241 Travel Information 242 Diseases/Health Data 253 Chapter 6 259 Environmental Overview 259 Environmental Issues 260 Environmental Policy 260 Greenhouse Gas Ranking 262 Global Environmental Snapshot 273 Global Environmental Concepts 284 International Environmental Agreements and Associations 298 Appendices 322 Bibliography 323 Bosnia‐Herzegovina Chapter 1 Country Overview Bosnia‐Herzegovina Review 2016 Page 1 of 335 pages Bosnia‐Herzegovina Country Overview BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA The three main ethnic groups in present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina are Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims), Croats and Serbs. After World War II, Bosnia and Herzegovina became a republic within the Yugoslav Socialist Federation. Following the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence from the former Yugoslavia in early 1992 after a referendum boycotted by ethnic Serbs. A war broke out as the Bosnian Serbs - supported by neighboring Serbia and Montenegro - responded with armed resistance aimed at partitioning the republic along ethnic lines and joining Serb-held areas to form a "Greater Serbia." In November 1995, in Dayton, Ohio, the warring parties initialed a peace agreement that brought to a halt three years of interethnic civil strife (the final agreement was signed in Paris in December 1995). The High Representative was appointed by the UN Security Council, responsible for implementation of the peace agreement. International administration, backed at first by NATO forces and later by a smaller European Union-led peacekeeping force, has helped the country consolidate stability. Based on the 1995 Dayton Peace accord, Bosnia and Herzegovina today consists of two Entities-- the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina which is largely Bosniak and Croat, and the Bosnian Serb Republic, or Republika Srpska, which is primarily Serb. Before independence, Bosnia and Herzegovina ranked alongside Macedonia as the poorest republic in the former Yugoslav Federation. Three years of interethnic war following independence caused extensive destruction of physical infrastructure and a sharp economic decline, but Bosnia and Herzegovina has made impressive progress in economic recovery since the end of the interethnic war. Bosnia‐Herzegovina Review 2016 Page 2 of 335 pages Bosnia‐Herzegovina Key Data Key Data Region: Eastern Europe Population: 4618228 Hot summers and cold winters; areas of high elevation have short, cool Climate: summers and long, severe winters; mild, rainy winters along coast. Languages: Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian Currency: 1 konvertible marka = 100 pfenings Holiday: Independence Day is 1 March, National Day is 25 November Area Total: 51233 Area Land: 51233 Coast Line: 20 Bosnia‐Herzegovina Review 2016 Page 3 of 335 pages Bosnia‐Herzegovina Bosnia-Herzegovina Country Map Bosnia‐Herzegovina Review 2016 Page 4 of 335 pages Bosnia‐Herzegovina Eastern Europe Regional Map Bosnia‐Herzegovina Review 2016 Page 5 of 335 pages Bosnia‐Herzegovina Bosnia‐Herzegovina Review 2016 Page 6 of 335 pages Bosnia‐Herzegovina Chapter 2 Political Overview Bosnia‐Herzegovina Review 2016 Page 7 of 335 pages Bosnia‐Herzegovina History The area of present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina is located strategically between key historical empires, which has thus influenced its complex history and cultural legacy. Although inhabited since Neolithic times, during the Bronze Age, Neolithic peoples were displaced by Illyrians of Indo-European ethno-linguistic origins. As part of the Roman province of Illyria, it is clear that Illyrian cultural influences and ethnic elements have contributed to the history and settlement of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Migrations of Celts followed and contributed to further cultural and ethnic mixing. Then, in the seventh century, Slavs, such as Croats and Serbs, settled in the land that now makes up Bosnia and Herzegovina. As such, the native Illyrians were, in some cases, entirely displaced, and in other instances, assimilated into the migrating poplations of Slavs. Dominance of the region shifted among the Croatian, Serbian, Bulgarian and Byzantine rulers for generations before the Croatian and Hungarian crowns merged, and Hungary became the dominant entity. Foreign interference in Bosnia and Herzegovina exacerbated local political and religious hostilities and ignited bloody civil wars. Meanwhile, following Cyril and Methodius' mission to the Slavs from Byzantium, Bosnia in the medieval period was an isolated feudal state, dependent on agriculture and mining. Although Christianized in the ninth and tenth centuries, the level of isolation allowed the Bogomil sect to flourish until the introduction of Islam. The Bogomil faith played an important early role in Bosnian politics. Ban Kulin (1180-1204) and other nobles struggled to broaden Bosnian autonomy, rejected the Catholic and Orthodox faiths, and embraced Bogomilism, a dualistic offshoot of Christianity. The Bogomils enraged the papacy, and the Catholic kings of Hungary persecuted them in order to exterminate heresy and secure Hungarian rule over Bosnia. Kulin recanted his conversion under torture, but the Bogomil faith survived crusades, civil war and Catholic propaganda. In the 14th century, Bosnia became a formidable state under the rule of Ban Stefan Tvrtko I (1353-91). Tvrtko united Bosnia with the principality of Hum, forerunner of Herzegovina, and Bosnia‐Herzegovina Review 2016 Page 8 of 335 pages Bosnia‐Herzegovina attempted to unite the South Slavs under his rule. After the Serbian Nemanja dynasty expired in 1371, Tvrtko was crowned King of Bosnia and Raska in 1377, and he later conquered parts of Croatia and Dalmatia. Bosnian troops fought beside the Serbs at Kosovo Polje. After that defeat, Tvrtko turned his attention to forming alliances with Western states. Rival nobles and religious groups vied to gain control of Bosnia after the death of Tvrtko; one noble in Hum won the title of "Herzeg," (German for "duke"), from which evolved the name "Herzegovina." The 15th century marked the beginning of Turkish rule in Bosnia. Most of Bosnia was taken in 1463, Herzegovina in 1483. Many Orthodox and Roman Catholics fled, while Bogomil nobles converted to Islam to retain their land and feudal privileges. They formed a unique Slavic Muslim aristocracy that exploited its Christian and Muslim serfs for centuries and eventually grew fanatical and conservative. Turkish governors supervised Bosnia and Herzegovina from their capitals at Travnik and Mostar, but few Turks actually settled in the territory. Economic life declined and the region grew isolated from Europe and even Constantinople. As the sultan's military expenses grew, large estates replaced small farms, and peasant taxes were raised substantially. When the Turkish Empire weakened in the 17th century, Bosnia and Herzegovina became pawns in the struggle among Austria, Russia and the Turks. The 19th century in Bosnia and Herzegovina brought alternating Christian peasant revolts against the Slavic Muslim landholders, and Slavic Muslim rebellions against the sultan. In 1850, the Turkish government stripped the conservative Slavic Muslim nobles of power, shifted the capital of Bosnia to Sarajevo, and instituted centralized, but highly corrupt rule. Austrian capital began to enter the region, financing primitive industries, and fostering a new Christian middle class. The mostly Christian serfs continued to suffer the corruption and high rates of the Turkish tax system. In 1875, a peasant uprising in Herzegovina sparked an all-out rebellion in the Balkan provinces, provoking a European war. The Treaty of Berlin, which followed the Turkish defeat of 1878, gave Austria-Hungary the right to occupy Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to restore local order. The Treaty of Berlin brought a period of manipulation by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The empire suppressed Muslim and Orthodox opposition to the occupation and introduced an orderly administration. It retained the feudal system because Bosnia