Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a mountainous country in the western Balkans. Its capital is Sarajevo and it was formerly one of the six federal units constituting Yugoslavia. The republic gained its independence in the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s and due to the Dayton Accords, it is currently a protectorate of the international community, administered by a High Representative selected by the European Parliament. It is also decentralized and administratively divided into two entities, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska. Bosnia and Herzegovina themselves are historical-geographic regions which today have no political status.

Bosna i Hercegovina
Босна и Херцеговина

Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina	Coat of arms of Bosnia and Herzegovina
(In detail)	(Full size)

Map showing the location of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosniaks,

Bosnian,

Presidency - Collective Head of State

Sulejman Tihić (currently President)

Borislav Paravac

Dragan Čović

Chair of the Council of Ministers

Adnan Terzić

High Representative

Paddy Ashdown

Area

- Total

- % water

Ranked 124th

51,129 km²

Negligible

Population

- Total (2002)

- Density

3,922,205
78/km²

UTC +1

.BA

387

History

Main article: History of Bosnia and Herzegovina

For the first centuries of the Christian era, Bosnia was part of the Roman Empire. After the fall of Rome, Bosnia was contested by Byzantium and Rome's successors in the West. Slavs settled the region in the 7th century, and the kingdoms of Serbia and Croatia split control of Bosnia in the 9th century. The 11th and 12th centuries saw the rule of the region by the kingdom of Hungary. The medieval banate of Bosnia gained autonomy by the end of the 12th century, and grew into an independent kingdom in 1377. Bosnia remained independent up until 1463, when Ottoman Turks conquered the region and established the Province of Bosnia.

During the four centuries of Ottoman rule, many Bosnians dropped their ties to Christianity in favor of Islam. Bosnia was under Ottoman rule until 1878, when it became a colony under Austria-Hungary. While those living in Bosnia were from 1908 officially in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, South Slavs in Serbia and elsewhere were calling for a South Slav state; World War I began with the assassination in Sarajevo organized by Serb nationalists. Following the war, Bosnia became part of the South Slav kingdom of Yugoslavia, only to be ceded to Nazi-puppet Croatia in World War II. The Cold War saw the establishment of the Communist Yugoslavia under Tito, and the reestablishment of Bosnia as a republic within its Ottoman borders.

The Bosnian declaration of sovereignty in October of 1991, was followed by a referendum for independence from Yugoslavia in February of 1992. The Bosnian Serbs - supported by neighboring Serbia - responded with armed resistance aimed at partitioning the republic along ethnic lines and joining Serb-held areas. In March 1994, Bosniaks and Croats reduced the number of warring factions from three to two by signing an agreement creating a joint Bosniak/Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. On November 21, 1995, in Dayton, Ohio, the warring parties signed a peace agreement that brought to a halt the three years of interethnic civil strife (the final agreement was signed in Paris on December 14, 1995). The Dayton Agreement divides Bosnia and Herzegovina roughly equally between the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Bosnian Serb Republika Srpska.

Politics

Main article: Politics of Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Chair of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina rotates among three members (Bosniak, Serb, Croat), each elected for a 4-year term. The three members of the Presidency are elected directly by the people (Federation votes for the Bosniak/Croat, Republika Srpska for the Serb). The Chair of the Council of Ministers is nominated by the Presidency and approved by the House of Representatives. She/he is then responsible for appointing a Foreign Minister, Minister of Foreign Trade, and others as appropriate.

The Parliamentary Assembly is the lawmaking body in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It consists of two houses: the House of Peoples and the House of Representatives. The House of Peoples includes 15 delegates, two-thirds of which come from the Federation (5 Croat and 5 Bosniaks) and one-third from the Republika Srpska (5 Serbs). The House of Representatives is composed of 42 Members, two-thirds elected from the Federation and one-third elected from the Republika Srpska.

The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the supreme, final arbiter of legal matters. It is composed of nine members: four members are selected by the House of Representatives of the Federation, two by the Assembly of the Republika Srpska, and three by the President of the European Court of Human Rights after consultation with the Presidency.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Political divisions

Main article: Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina is divided into the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska. The district of Brčko is not part of either entity.

The Federation is further divided into 10 cantons:

The RS is composed of 5 regions:

The Cantons and the Regions are further subdivided into municipalities.

Geography

Main article: Geography of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia is located in the Western Balkans, bordering Serbia and Montenegro to the east and Croatia to the north and south-west. The port city of Neum in Herzegovina-Neretva Canton is the only link to the sea.

The country's name comes from the two regions Bosnia and Herzegovina, which have a very vaguely defined border between them. Bosnia occupies roughly the northern two thirds of the country, while the southern third is Herzegovina.

The major cities are the capital Sarajevo, Banja Luka in the northwest, Tuzla in the northeast and Mostar, the capital of Herzegovina.

Economy

Main article: Economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Next to Republic of Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina was the poorest republic in the old Yugoslav Federation. For the most part, agriculture has been in private hands, but farms have been small and inefficient, and food has traditionally been a net import for the republic. The centrally planned economy has resulted in some legacies in the economy. Industry is greatly overstaffed, reflecting the rigidity of the planned economy. Under Josip Broz Tito, military industries were pushed in the republic; Bosnia hosted a large share of Yugoslavia's defense plants.

Three years of interethnic strife destroyed the economy and infrastructure in Bosnia, causing unemployment to soar and production to plummet by 80%, as well as causing the death of anywhere between 60 and 200 thousand people and displacing half of the population. With an uneasy peace in place, the economic output has been recovering, but GDP still remains below the 1990 level.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Bosnia and Herzegovina

According to the 1991 census, Bosnia is 44% ethnically Bosniak (then declared as "Muslims"), 31% Serb, and 17% Croat, with 6% people declaring themselves Yugoslav, comprising people from mixed marriages as well as hardcore Yugoslav patriots and non-religious Bosniaks. There is a strong co-relation between ethnic identity and religion; 88% of Croats are Roman Catholics, 90% of Bosniaks practice Islam, and 99% of Serbs are Orthodox Christians.

According to 2000 data from the CIA World Factbook, Bosnia is ethnically 48% Bosniak, 37.1% Serb, 14.3% Croat, 0.6% other.

Culture

Main article: Culture of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Miscellaneous topics

External links

Countries of the world | Council of Europe