Change amidst continuity? Assessing the 2018 regional elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina

ABSTRACT

The 2018 regional elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina demonstrate that the country as a whole continues to suffer from the results of the conflict in the 1990s, as well as the impact of power-sharing, electoral rules and ethnic self-governance in homogeneous territories. Bosnia’s politics reflects a stalemate dominated by ethnic parties who are mainly focused on their own patronage networks. This paper focuses on political competition at the regional level and shows that regional elections are characterized primarily by competition between ethnically exclusive parties with little competition for voters across ethnic groups. While civic parties have emerged and had success in some regions, they have not succeeded in building support across ethnically defined regions. As a result, the volatility and competition in the country reflects the legacy of the war and does not show signs of transformation, despite widespread dissatisfaction with the system.

KEYWORDS:

• Regional elections
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• ethnic politics
• party systems
• post-conflict

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 In addition to the entities and cantons, Bosnia has a 13th administrative unit, the Brčko District. Brčko district elections occur during local elections as opposed to general elections, so they are not considered in this analysis.