ABSTRACT

Before discussing and summarising the main arguments of this study, it is important to highlight some general remarks about the results of this analysis of Bosnian federalism and federation. The introduction outlines three main aims, namely to shed light upon the nature of Bosnian federalism and federation, to discuss federalism and federation as part of a long-term state-building and democratisation project in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and, finally, to assess this state-building process in Bosnia from the perspective of its impact on the federal future. This discussion achieved these aims in two ways. First, chapter four examined the federal political system of Bosnia and Herzegovina as it has been implemented by the Dayton constitution, whilst the third part of this conclusion will demonstrate that Bosnia is only one case in a wide range of countries that can be characterised as new models of federalism and federation. Second, chapters three and five have explained the origins and development of federalism as a normative theory in Bosnia, and chapter five pointed to the need for further conceptualisation of federalism in countries like Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is, in particular, the role of international actors that have imposed federalism and administrate the Bosnian federation, that makes it hard to conceptualise Bosnia within the standard literature on federalism and federation. It has been attempted to fill this gap by discussing Bosnia as a model of imposed federalism and internationally administered federation.