Национално и грађанско у Уставу Босне и Херцеговине
National and Civic in the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Author(s): Slobodan P. Orlović
Subject(s): Constitutional Law
Published by: Правни факултет Универзитета у Источном Сарајеву
Keywords: Constitution of Bosina and Herzegovina (Dayton constitution);Political system;Civic;National;Bosnia and Herzegovina;
Summary/Abstract: It is not simple to determine the nature of a legal and political act such as the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina (the Dayton constitution). The fact is that this act is not the fruit of the national sovereignty (a national constitution), yet the Constitution is result of the Peace agreement and the political will of international and domestic political representatives (with and without legitimacy). Such combination of creators of the Constitution has its continuation in a hybrid content of the Constitution. The Dayton constitution has been composed not only of civic (liberal) and national elements (norms), but also on other principles – ethnic and territorial, mixed structure of state’s authority which consists of citizens and foreigners, the right of presentation and national-territorial key, majority decision-making with veto power (protection of vital interests), basic principles of capitalist regime (private property and market economy) and on social rights (the International pact of economic, social and cultural rights). Traces of civic ideology can be recognized in the Preamble of the Constitution – respect of human dignity, freedom and equality, peaceful relations within a pluralist society, a common welfare and a protection of private ownership, all the way to mentioning citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina deciding about the Constitution. Besides citizens, the Constitution is also issued by Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs as constitutive nations (in community with „Others“), which is suggesting a national ideology in this document. That ideology is later worked out by a series of rights which members and representatives of those nations have. This sort of starting point of the Constitution, with the subsequent pro¬visions in the normative part, make it sui generis constitutional act which, somehow, pushes the borders of today’s constitutionality. The Constitution combines and reconciles civic and national, and this work is attempting to define which of these two views predominates.

• Details
• Contents