Talk:Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Just in case this wasn't noticed already at Talk:Regions of Republika Srpska... the five regions seem to be dubious. --Joy [shallot] 13:38, 16 Aug 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Regarding the Brcko District

The claim that the Brcko District is not part of either the Federation or Republika Srpska might de facto be true (that is how things are run on the ground), but de iure it is false. If the Brcko District is not part of either entity, this would imply that the District is in fact the third entity. This would be a major breach of the general framework of the Dayton peace agreement (and the constitution of Bosnia-Herzegovina), which states that the country is internally composed of only two entities. Also, the Brcko District as 'not part of either entity' would make the territorial formula agreed at Dayton (49% of Bosnia-Herzegovina as Republika Srpska, 51% as the Federation) unworkable. OHR, Office of the High Representative (http://www.ohr.int), provided a clarification on the status of the Brcko District, stating that the District is in fact a condominium of both entities. This means that the territory of the District is shared by both entities, although the entities exercise no executive power there. In other words, the Brcko District territory is both Republika Srpska and the Federation. Technically, this would apply to the whole territory of the District - in that way, there is no third entity, and 49-51% formula is (somehow) preserved. That said, it should be pointed out that the Brcko District was proclaimed on the whole territory of the prewar Brcko municipality. According to the Dayton map, 42% of the prewar Brcko municipality (including the town of Brcko) ended up in the Republika Srpska, while 58% of the prewar Brcko municipality ended up in the Federation. Although the Brcko District was proclaimed in 1999, IEBL (Inter Entity Boundary Line) within its territory was never officially abolished; IEBL plays no administrative function within the District, except to mark the line beyond which the Bosnian Serb Army (Vojska Republike Srpske) traveling through the District can not go (and vice versa for the Federation Army). Thus, it remains unclear how the entities hold the condominium over the whole District if the IEBL still exists on the books, and the District was created out of uneven chunks of both entity's territory. Given the fact that the Republika Srpska never officially accepted the arbitration result (one of the reasons IEBL was never officially abolished), the only solution is to show the Republika Srpska territory within the Brcko District (42% of it) on the Republika Srpska entity map, but color it differently, and the same formula should be used vis-à-vis the Federation territory within the Brcko District (58% of it) on the Federation entity map. When you put all of this together, you have a map of Bosnia-Herzegovina showing only two entities but also acknowledging the existence of the Brcko District - the neutral position.

p.s.

The 'condominium' idea or the Brcko District is demonstrated by the way in which people declare themselves within the District. Citizens of the District have a right to hold entity citizenship of either Republika Srpska or the Federation, and have the right to vote on their entity's elections, although they are banned from serving in either entity's army.

[edit] "Political"

Hi – I'm wondering what makes these divisions political rather than administrative; is it that they're contingent on the Dayton agreement, i.e. not meant to be regarded as long-term...?  Thanks, David Kernow (talk) 07:10, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Because the RS could legally block any attempt to dismantle it, whereas a simple administrative division has no rights outside those granted or taken away by the state. Also, not sure what you mean that they're not meant to be regarded as long term? The RS is a permanent and inviolable right of the people who live in it.--Hadžija 00:00, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Well, Estavisti, your so called RS is getting weaker and weaker and eventually it will dissappear. You had your own army before, your own money, your own borders, your own grb i himna but that is unconstitutional now, ( Yes, I know the flag is constitutional). And RS isnt even serbian anymore, becasue both bosniaks and croats are constitutional. And you are going to loose Kosova to... so... well done... you had the entire Yugoslavia and now... you have a little piece called Serbia. Alkalada 11:20, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

I believe the only way Bosnia will not have problems with these stupid ethnic borders is by Haveing a United Bosnia and Herzegovina.Put the 7 regions of RS into Cantons. Croatia and Slovania and other Former Yugoslavs don't have this ethnic divison The Croatians got rid of there Krajna RS. The RS was created from a Bloody war that was made up bye war Criminals. And it needs to be demolished same for the Federation. But the only people who can really get rid of RS are the RS Citizens. they need to open up there eyes and see that this is not going no where. RS is getting weaker and weaker. And Mladic and Karadzic are still on the Run. The Bosnian Citizens needs to stand up. Bosnia allready is doing better economicly mostly because of The Federation. But the RS is strugleing and needs to be demolished so the citizens of RS can a have a better life...I am my Self is a former Bosnian Citizens of Croats and Bosniaks descent