The Alienation from Citizenship in Bosnia and Herzegovina: From Criticism of the Constitution to Actual Participation

  • Nermina Mujagić Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Sarajevo
Keywords: Dayton Peace Agreement, the Dayton Constitution, democracy, alienation, citizenship

Abstract

Remaining true to the spirit and logic of the war-torn territories, the Dayton Peace Agreement highlights the interdependence of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s (B&H) 'local' problems with the wider region’s problems,  and indeed, global problems. 25 years after the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement, we have gained a democracy without a people, a democracy with MP’s defined by their ethnicity, who, at their discretion, interpret the will of the people and dispose of the mandate entrusted to them by their convictions. This paper aims to open up the question of whether the Dayton Constitution alienated B&H’s citizens from their political community. Pointing to the process of alienation from citizenship, which is, among other things, caused by a constitutional architecture that does not conceive of the citizen as an abstract category, the author focuses more on the conditions in which voters are denied real political participation. In theoretical terms, this participation would mean not only resistance to ethnonationalism, but also the creation of opportunities for citizens to unite and make political-strategic, and long-term decisions important for the future of B&H.

Published
2021-04-05
How to Cite
[1]
Mujagić, N. 2021. The Alienation from Citizenship in Bosnia and Herzegovina: From Criticism of the Constitution to Actual Participation. Bosnian Studies: Journal for Research of Bosnian Thought and Culture. 5, 1 (Apr. 2021), 6-18. DOI:https://doi.org/10.47999/bos.2021.5.1.6-18.
Section
Political Sciences