EKONOMSKO-FISKALNA OBILJEŽJA DRŽAVE BOSNE I HERCEGOVINE: STANJE I PERSPEKTIVE
ECONOMIC-FISCAL MARKINGS OF THE STATE OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA: SITUATION AND PERSPECTIVES

Author(s): Kadrija Hodžić, Željko Rička
Subject(s): Constitutional Law, Economic policy, Government/Political systems, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Present Times (2010 - today), Inter-Ethnic Relations, Fiscal Politics / Budgeting, Peace and Conflict Studies
Published by: Akademija Nauka i Umjetnosti Bosne i Hercegovine
Keywords: Dayton Agreement; fiscal federalism; fiscal sustainability; fiscal confederalism;
Summary/Abstract: In this article, the authors give arguments to develop the thesis that the constitutional order of Bosnia and Herzegovina ignores the government’s financial sovereignty, and conclude that Bosnia and Herzegovina is fiscally sovereign as much as a confederation. In the centre of economic and political-legal debate on the statehood of Bosnia and Herzegovina are different approaches to the allocation of responsibilities between the state and its entities, and approaches to organization of government. In this discussion, the dominant question is whether Bosnia and Herzegovina can be considered a federation or a confederation. In the disagreement of national and political elites, the dominant conflict is based on ethno-national notions of ethnic homogeneity and national sovereignty over “own territories”. The solution for the sustainability of Bosnia and Herzegovina in this article is observed through two conceptual levels. In the first, the involvement of the international community, especially the European Union, in designing the changes of Dayton Agreement seems inevitable. According to the second, Bosnia and Herzegovina will have to reconcile the current irreconcilable differences of its national political elites on its own. In both cases, the minimum acceptable framework for all legal solutions should include the establishment of mechanisms for fiscal sustainability of Bosnia and Herzegovina, including economic-fiscal coordination between the entities and the Brcko District, protection of equal individual and collective rights, equality of the constituent peoples in the entire territory of the country, including minority rights, and the adoption and implementation of international treaties and conventions on human rights.

• Details
• Contents