Bosnia and Herzegovinaportal |
Bosnia and Herzegovina has a multi-party system, with numerous parties in which no one often has a chance of gaining power alone, and parties must work with each other to form coalition governments. [1]
The politics of Bosnia and Herzegovina are defined by a parliamentary, representative democratic framework, where the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, named by the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Legislative power is vested in both the Council of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Members of the Parliamentary Assembly are chosen according to a proportional representation system. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
Republika Srpska is one of the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is located in the northern and eastern parts of the country and had a population of 1,228,423 according to the 2013 census. The largest city and administrative center is Banja Luka, situated on the Vrbas River.
The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the two entities composing Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Republika Srpska. The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of ten autonomous cantons with their own governments and legislatures.
The Serb Democratic Party is a Serb political party in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Its current leader is Milan Miličević.
Mladen Ivanić is a Bosnian Serb politician who served as the 6th Serb member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2014 to 2018. He is the founder, member and former president of the Party of Democratic Progress.
The Democratic National Alliance or Democratic People's Alliance is a centre-right political party in Republic of Srpska and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The head of the DNS is Nenad Nešić.
The Serbian Radical Party of Republika Srpska was a Serb centre-right political party in Bosnia and Herzegovina, active in Republika Srpska. It was founded in 1992 by Nikola Poplašen, a former Serbian Democratic Party member. SRS RS has since affiliated itself with the Serbian Progressive Party, a pro-EU offshoot of the Serbian Radical Party established in 2008. In April 2019, most of the SRS's membership joined the Party of Democratic Progress (PDP), and the SRS de facto merged with the PDP.
The Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, often referred to as Bosnian Serbs or Herzegovinian Serbs, are native and one of the three constitutive nations of the country, predominantly residing in the political-territorial entity of Republika Srpska. Most declare themselves Orthodox Christians and speakers of the Serbian language.
The Republika Srpska was a self-proclaimed statelet in Southeastern Europe under the control of the Army of Republika Srpska during the Bosnian War. It claimed to be a sovereign state, though this claim was only partially recognized by the Bosnian government in the Geneva agreement, the United Nations, and FR Yugoslavia. For the first six months of its existence, it was known as the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Four major international peace plans were proposed before and during the Bosnian War by European Community (EC) and United Nations (UN) diplomats before the conflict was settled by the Dayton Agreement in 1995.
Milorad Dodik is a Bosnian Serb politician serving as the 8th president of Republika Srpska since 2022, having previously served from 2010 to 2018. He also served as the 7th Serb member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2018 to 2022.
The Alliance of Independent Social Democrats is a Serb political party in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Founded in 1996, it is the governing party in Republika Srpska, with its leader, Milorad Dodik, serving as the current president of Republika Srpska. The party's vice-president, Željka Cvijanović, is the current member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, while SNSD member Radovan Višković is the current prime minister of Republika Srpska.
The Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was a state in Southeastern Europe, existing from 1992 to 1995. It is the direct legal predecessor to the modern-day state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Haris Silajdžić is a Bosnian politician and academic who served as the 5th Bosniak member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2006 to 2010. He was the Prime Minister of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1993 to 1996.
The Football Association of Republika Srpska is the official football association of the Republika Srpska entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Capital punishment in Bosnia and Herzegovina is prohibited. It was abolished de facto for all crimes in November 1998 in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and on June 21, 2000 in the Republika Srpska, the other of Bosnia and Herzegovina's two entities. However, it was only on October 4, 2019 that capital punishment was completely erased from the Constitution of the Republika Srpska. Until then, it was endorsed under Article 11 of the Constitution of the Republika Srpska.
The Ministry of Defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the governmental department in charge of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina and protection of Bosnia and Herzegovina from invasion and threats.
The modern-day countries of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia both originated from Yugoslavia. The majority of population in both countries speak one of the standard varieties of Serbo-Croatian and Serbia is one of the largest investors in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
General elections were held in Bosnia and Herzegovina on 3 October 2010. They decided the makeup of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Presidency as well as national, entity, and cantonal governments.
The Dayton Agreement ended the Bosnian War and created the federal republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), which consists of the Bosniak and Croat-inhabited Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) and the Serb-inhabited Republika Srpska (RS). Although the Bosnian Serbs were viewed as "anti-Dayton" during the first years after the war, since 2000 they have been staunch supporters of the Dayton Agreement and the preservation of RS. Bosniaks generally view RS as illegitimate, and an independence referendum from BiH has been proposed in RS. The 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum and Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence have raised the possibility of a referendum and unification with Serbia. In 2015, after a judicial and police crisis, the governing Alliance of Independent Social Democrats said that it would hold an independence referendum in 2018 if RS's autonomy was not preserved. Almost all people vote for pro-independence parties.