Uloga Ustavnog suda BiH u profiliranju federalnog uređenja BiH
The Role of the Constitutional Court in Profiling the Federal Structure of BiH

Author(s): Harun Išerić
Subject(s): Constitutional Law, Government/Political systems, Politics and law
Published by: Fondacija Centar za javno pravo
Keywords: Bosnia and Herzegovina; federalism; Constitutional Court; constitution; federal state;
Summary/Abstract: In the Paper I examine the role of the Constitutional Court in profiling the federal structure of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Although the Court has missed the opportunities to define Bosnian state as a federation, it has treated it as such, by, for example, indicating the comparative experience of federal states when resolving different cases. Furthermore, I discuss how the Court interpreted the supremacy clause (which proclaims supremacy of the state over entities) and where it failed to do so. When it comes to the competence division between state and entities, the Court has played important role in expending exclusive competences of the state, strengthening state institutions and introducing common competences, precisely framework legislation, which is unknown to the Constitution. On the other hand, the Court failed to introduce unwritten constitutional principle of “federal comity”, especially regarding sensitive issues such as foreign policy. Finally, I discuss how the Court has profiled a cooperative federalism in Bosnian constitutional law and what legal and political consequences it has for the country.

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