Abstract
Bosnian institutions are lacking full capacities to carry out and implement nationally defined interests in foreign affairs. The complex consociational state has been facing challenges over its sovereignty, capacity, and policies. Yet, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is developing its institutions and networks, and both public and private involvement in governance have some influence on the country’s foreign policy. The constitutional framework, however, is fragile and presents impediment to designing and exercising actions in international arenas. Strong ethno-nationalist leaders in the country keep their own positions strong internally by acting externally toward potential patron state, thus undermining or preventing it from developing institutional policies. It is the ethno-nationalist leaders who are putting the country in an almost vassal position. Despite the obstacles, some agency preserved and developed the ability of political actors and institutions to manifest foreign policy governance.
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Notes
- 1.
Besides Article V, Annex 10 in connection with Article II (1d) Annex 10, the OHR has frequently justified its decisions on grounds of section XI (2) of the Conclusions of the Peace Implementation Conference held in Bonn (Bonn Conclusions). For more details see Banning (2014) http://www.gojil.eu/issues/62/62_article_banning.pdf
- 2.
International response to humanitarian crisis in BiH is referred to as a complex emergency (Keen 2008) alongside similarly difficult responses in Somalia, Sudan, Angola, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Afghanistan.
- 3.
The facts about Srebrenica contained in the ICTY judgments against Krstić, Erdemović, and Obrenović have been established beyond a reasonable doubt. For more details on the Srebrenica case: http://www.icty.org/x/file/Outreach/view_from_hague/jit_srebrenica_en.pdf
- 4.
Art. 2.a of the BiH Constitution (Responsibilities of the Entities): The Entities shall have the right to establish special parallel relationships with neighboring states consistent with the sovereignty and territorial integrity of BiH.
- 5.
Sporazum o specijalnim paralelnim odnosima između Republike Srpske i SRJ, signed on March 5, 2001.
- 6.
Sporazum o uspostavljanju specijalnih paralelnih odnosa između Republike Srpske i Republike Srbije, signed on September 26, 2006.
- 7.
Belgium, the US, Israel, Serbia, Greece, Germany, Russia, and Austria. For more details please see: http://www.vladars.net/sr-SP-Cyrl/Vlada/Predstavnistva/Pages/default.aspx
- 8.
Canton Sarajevo also has an office in Brussels.
- 9.
Željana Zovko, dual citizen of BiH and Croatia, member of HDZ and former BiH Ambassador to Spain and France, was an advisor to Bosnian Prime Minister while she was on the candidate list in Croatia for the European elections in 2014. As Zovko was not elected, she was soon appointed as the Ambassador of BiH to Italy. However, following resignations of some Croatian MEPs at the EU Parliament in 2016, she accepted a post as Croatian member of European Parliament. Her transition from the Bosnian diplomatic service to becoming a Croatian MEP in the European Parliament raised some criticisms in the press.
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Andjelić, N. (2019). BiH Foreign Policy Governance: Evolutive Practices and Contested Discourses. In: Hasić, J., Karabegović, D. (eds) Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Foreign Policy Since Independence. New Perspectives on South-East Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05654-4_11
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