HUMAN GEOGRAPHY MASTER CONFLICTS, TERRITORIES AND IDENTITIES Radboud University Nijmegen VISIONS OF ETHNOPOLIS: A STUDY OF ETHOPOLITICAL STREAMS OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA BY IVICA LEKIĆ SUPERVISOR: DR. HENK VAN HOUTUM NIJMEGEN 1 MARCH 2009 Pages: 56 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS BiH - Bosnia and Herzegovina BiH CoM - The Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina – the State level executive branch BiH HoP - The House of Peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina – one of the two chambers of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly BiH HoR - The House of Representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina - one of the two chambers of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly CERD - The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination EU - European Union FBiH - The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina – one of the two entities that compose Bosnia and Herzegovina HDZ1990 - Hrvatska Demokratska Zajednica 1990 - Croat Democratic Union 1990 HDZBiH - Hrvatska Demokratska Zajednica Bosne i Hercegovine – Croat Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina OHR - The Office of the High Representative OSCE - The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe SBiH - Stranka za Bosnu i Hercegovinu – Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina SDA - Stranka Demokratske Akcije – Party of Democratic Action SDPBiH - Socijaldemokratska Partija Bosne i Hercegovine – Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina SDS - Srpska Demokratska Stranka – Serb Democratic Party SNSD - Savez Nezavisnih Socijal Demokrata - Alliance of Independent Social Democrats PIC - Peace Implementation Council – Steering Board consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, United Kingdom, United States, the Presidency of the European Union, the European Commission, and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference. RS - Republika Srpska – one of the two entities that compose Bosnia and Herzegovina UN - United Nations Venice Commission - The European Commission for Democracy through Law 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 5 1. ETHNOPOLIS ............................................................................................................ 10 1.1. War ....................................................................................................................... 10 1.2. The aftermath .................................................. Fout! Bladwijzer niet gedefinieerd. 1.3. Negative peace ................................................. Fout! Bladwijzer niet gedefinieerd. 1.4. Partition ................................................................................................................ 14 1.5. Constitution .......................................................................................................... 15 1.6. Reforms ................................................................................................................ 16 1.7. Three Presidents for One Country .................................................................... 17 2. BOSNIACS – CENTRALIZED MUSLIM STATE ................................................ 19 2.1. Parties ................................................................................................................... 20 2.2. Reforms ............................................................ Fout! Bladwijzer niet gedefinieerd. 2.3. Presidency ........................................................ Fout! Bladwijzer niet gedefinieerd. 2.4. Spatial allocation ................................................................................................. 25 3. CROATS – THREE RELIGIONS, THREE ENTITIES ........................................ 28 3.1. Parties ................................................................................................................... 30 3.2. Reforms ................................................................................................................ 32 3.3. Presidency ............................................................................................................ 32 3.4. Spatial allocation ............................................. Fout! Bladwijzer niet gedefinieerd. 4. SERBS – LEGITIMIZATION OF ETHNIC CLEANSING .................................. 38 4.1. Parties ................................................................................................................... 40 4.2. Reforms ................................................................................................................ 43 4.3. Presidency ............................................................................................................ 43 4.4. Spatial allocation ................................................................................................. 45 3 5. CONCLUSIONS............................................................................................................. 48 5.1. Streams of Ethnopolis ......................................................................................... 48 5.2. Status Quo ............................................................................................................ 49 5.3. Visions of the Parties ........................................................................................... 50 5.4. Implications .......................................................................................................... 53 5.5. Recommendations ............................................................................................... 54 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................ 57 4 After centuries of rule by regional superpowers, Bosnia and Herzegovina gained independence on the 1st March 1992. The declaration of independence was followed by an armed conflict that left hundreds of thousands dead and millions displaced. On the 21st November 1995 the parties at war signed a peace agreement in Dayton, Ohio, United States. The agreement ended the war, but it was not without flaws. The Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina that was incorporated in it was ensuring protection of group rights instead of individual freedoms and human rights. Professor Živanović (2005) explained the current situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina as following: “Here, we do not live as human beings but as Serbs, Croats and Bosniacs.” In 2007, professor Asim Mujkić described BiH as “democracy of ethnic oligarchies” and supplied nine key-elements to explain it. This thesis identified the BiH ethnopolitical streams, their actors and their visions of future BiH. The result is a comprehensive analysis of BiH ethnopolitical elites, their visions on the election of the BiH Presidency and the spatial allocation. All of the major political parties are still formed around the three constituent peoples of BiH: Bosniacs, Croats and Serbs. These parties are almost exclusive stakeholders throughout all levels of BiH executive and legislative powers. Moreover, the wartime goals of every stream are still being pursued. Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter BiH) is a young country with a turbulent history. Since the beginning of the fifteenth century the country was invaded and ruled by the Ottoman empire. In the nineteenth century the Habsburg monarchy ruled over it, leading to the annexation in 1908. On 28 June 1914 the Archduke of Austria, Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo, an event that is generally recognized as the beginning of the World War I, the war that brought the final end to the great empires of Europe: the Ottoman Empire, the Habsburg Monarchy, the Russian and the German Empire. On the ashes of those empires the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes arose1. World War II brought an end to this Monarchy and established a Nazi puppet state, the Independent State of Croatia. After the defeat of the Axis powers, Germany, Italy and Japan, the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia was founded. The former rebel leader during the WWII, Josip Broz Tito, managed to balance in neutrality between the so-called Western (dominated by the United States) and Eastern powers (dominated by the Soviet Union). However, the end of the Cold War was accompanied by declining economical conditions and subsequently a wave of democratization throughout former communist countries of Eastern Europe. The first multiparty elections in Yugoslavia led to its breakup, whereby Slovenia and Croatia seceded, followed by BiH and Macedonia. The secession was not accepted by all in Yugoslavia, and the aftermath of it was a civil war involving the entire country. This brief overview of geopolitical developments of BiH is necessary to illustrate the complexity of BiH statehood. A country that has not been independent for centuries, became an internationally recognized, sovereign state, while it was not recognized as such by everybody within its own territory, resulting in an armed conflict. 1 The name the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was adopted in 1929. 5 In November 1995, three warring parties2 met in Dayton, Ohio, United States (hereinafter US), for peace talks under auspices of the US. The negotiations, described in detail by the leader of negotiations, Richard Holbrooke in his book To end a war (Holbrooke, 1996), led to one of the most extensive peace accords in the history: the General Framework Agreement for peace in BiH (hereinafter: Dayton Accords). This peace agreement also encompassed a constitution and even its „creator‟ described it as “imperfect though it did end the