Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina - Атлас этнических региональных автономий

Description of the autonomy

One of the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), formed in 1995 as a result of the Dayton Accords, which put an end to the Bosnian war. The capital is the city of Sarajevo. The entity occupies 51% of the territory of BiH, which is home to about 62.6% of the country's population. The dominant ethnic group is Bosniak (80%). Croats make up 14%, and Serbs - 4.4%. Ethnic groups differ religiously.

Politico-institutional design of Bosnia and Herzegovina features decentralization and ethnic segmentation. The party system of BiH is comprised of a collection of ethnic parties. According to the Dayton Agreement, the FBiH, along with another entity (Republika Srpska), has exclusive powers in the field of defence and the organization of the armed forces. Under the FBiH government purview are issues of the development and implementation of economic, fiscal and monetary, as well as energy policy.

Decentralization is also characteristic of FBiH. It consists of ten cantons: five Bosniac, three Croatian, and two with an ethnically mixed population. The FBiH public authorities are formed on the principle of proportional representation of three ethnic groups - Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs. However, since there is no separate ethnicity vote in the elections, it is possible that a representative of one ethnic group can be nominated from a political party of another ethnic group. In the FBiH, the conflict associated with Croatian demands for the allocation of the Croatian entity recurs periodically.

Autonomy's characteristics

Year of the creation of the autonomy:

Geographic

Where is the autonomy situated:
Autonomy area: km²
Share of the autonomy in the area of the country: %
Autonomy population:the latest census thousands of people
Share of the autonomy in the population of the country: %

Country's characteristics

Level of economic development of the country:GDP per capita in 2015 in current price in $ in $
Political regime in the country:It is based on the Freedom House Index, 2015. All countries of the world are located on a scale from 1 (most free) to 7 (least free). Countries whose ratings fall between 1.0 and 2.5 are “Free”, between 3.0 and 5.0 are "Partly Free," and those between 5.5 and 7.0 are "Not Free."

Economic

Share of the autonomy in the economy of the country:GRP of the autonomy divided to GDP of the country (%) %
Level of economic development of the autonomy:relative to the country (%): GRP per capita of the autonomy divided to GDP per capita of the country %

Ethnic

Share of the dominant in the country ethnic group in the population of the autonomy:in %: population size of the dominant in the country ethnic group divided to overal population size of the autonomy (the latest census; expert estimations) %
Share of the titular ethnic group in the population of the autonomy:in %: population size of the titular ethnic group of the autonomy divided to overal population size of the autonomy (the latest census; expert estimations) %
Ethnic peculiarity:It indicates a key characteristic of autonomy's ethnic identity - language or religion or both
Diversity of ethnic composition:The presence of other (in addition to the titular group in the autonomy and the dominant group in the country) significant ethnic groups in the population of the autonomy

Political

Degree of self-rule of the autonomy:It is based on the Regional Authority Index project that aims at measuring the powers of all the regions in 81 countries. Here the index "tier_selfrule" (2010) is used. It summarizes five dimensions of self-rule: institutional depth; policy scope; fiscal autonomy; borrowing autonomy; and the extent to which a region has an independent legislature and executive. The index takes value from 0 to 18
Degree of shared-rule of the autonomy:It is based on the Regional Authority Index project that aims at measuring the powers of all the regions in 81 countries. Here the index "tier_sharedrule" (2010) is used. It summarizes five dimensions of shared-rule: participation of a region in national law-making; intergovernmental meetings; the distribution of national tax revenues; borrowing; and constitutional change. The index takes value from 0 to 12
The presence of the "kin-state":"Kin-state" is a state whose main population shares the ethnic characteristics of the titular ethnic group of the autonomy
Linguistic preferences:It indicates how the language of the titular ethnic group of the autonomy is learned in secondary schools in the autonomy
Ethnic conflicts:It indicates whether the serious conflicts between the autonomy and the central government as well as between ethnic groups within the authority take place in 2001-2015. The level of conflict is determined on the basis of the annual reports of Conflict Barometer