In the past decade Bosnia and Herzegovina has been the site of a remarkable project of political engineering. A complex mix of international and local actors have been attempting to transform a devastated, ethnically divided territory into a multi-ethnic, democratic and
In the past decade Bosnia and Herzegovina has been the site of a remarkable project of political engineering. A complex mix of international and local actors have been attempting to transform a devastated, ethnically divided territory into a multi-ethnic, democratic and economically viable state.
Bosnia Herzegovina's current setup is a consequence of the divisions that led to the bitter war between 1992 and 1995, and the two peace agreements, which ended it.
The first splits within Bosnia and Herzegovina came when Serbs living in Bosnia declared a separate state, the Bosnian Serb Republic, Republika Srpska (RS) in 1991. Realising that Bosnia was about to follow Slovenia's and Croatia's path toward independence, they did not want to become a minority in an independent Bosnia. After a referendum in which virtually all Bosniaks and Croats (more than 60% of the population) voted for independence, war broke out on 6 April 1992 – the same day that the Government of Bosnia declared independence. (International recognition followed shortly.) The Bosnian Serbs encircled the capital Sarajevo, laying siege to it for three and a half years. The Bosnian Serbs, with Serbia's military support, soon controlled two-thirds of Bosnia. In response, the Bosnian Croats, the smallest of the three main ethnic groups, formed their own mini-state. During 1993 their army – backed by Croatia – took over Croat-majority areas in Bosnia, in bitter fighting with the Army of Bosnia-Herzegovina. They formally declared their own Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia (Herceg-Bosna) in August 1993.
There were several failed attempts by the international community to broker a peace deal. The first success came in bringing the Croat-Bosniak conflict to an end. Under German and U.S. pressure, the Croat-Bosniak Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was hurriedly set up under the Washington Agreement in March 1994. To satisfy the concerns of the Bosnian Croats, who had had to give up their aspirations for an independent republic, Cantons were created below the level of the Federation Government, each with its own government.
The renewed