The political system of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the fault lines set down in the Dayton Agreement

This article seeks to review some of the problems with the political system of Bosnia and Herzegovina as expressed through the constitutional provisions of the Dayton Agreement. While the Agreement brought an end to the physical violence, its creators must have been aware that the type of state system it envisaged, being composed of two entities, only put off the solution to the crucial cause of the problem. The entire mechanism of the political organisation of BiH is based on the fault lines set down in this Agreement, while the continuing inter-ethnic struggle in BiH is focused on the questions which it poses for constitutional government. Furthermore the moderators of the process retained the right to monitor the Agreement’s implementation, institutionalising the involvement of the international community and introducing a continuing role for NATO in the Balkans. The article considers the political system of BiH as developed under the Dayton Agreement but turns first to setting the scene by exploring the territory of the country as a whole and some of the essential characteristics of its peoples.