Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Map showing the current administrative structure.

The political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina were created by the Dayton Agreement, which recognized a second tier of government in Bosnia and Herzegovina, comprising two entities: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH), with mostly Bosniaks and Croats, and the Republika Srpska (RS) with mostly Serbs – each governing roughly one half of the state's territory. Today, all three ethnic groups have an equal constitutional status over the entire territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Overview

The Federation and the RS governments are charged with overseeing internal functions. Each has its own government, flag and coat of arms, president, parliament (FBiH) and assembly (RS), police force & customs, and postal system. The police sectors are overseen by the state-level ministry of safety affairs. Since 2005, Bosnia and Herzegovina has one Armed forces.

Inter-entity borders are not determined on natural geographical features of the region. Its borders were postulated as part of the political agreement that was based on ethnic division and are used to determine the extents of political jurisdictions within entities. On the ground, there is no active border between RS and FBiH, and one would generally not know the difference when crossing from one entity into another.

The city of Brčko in northeastern Bosnia is a seat of the Brčko district, a self-governing administrative unit; it is part of both the Federation and Republika Srpska. The district remains under international supervision.

The Federation is further divided into cantons, which are then subdivided into municipalities. Republika Srpska is divided directly into municipalities.

Amendments to the divisions

Main article: Constitutional reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Some interest groups have come forth with proposals for rearranging the subdivisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, saying the Dayton Agreement's framework is outdated. The Agreement was initially designed to effectively end the war in the nation. Some feel the divisions have made the present day bureaucracy of the country unwieldy.

In general the nation's Bosniak representatives want for the state to be centralized, eliminating the two entities. Republika Srpska representatives want to retain the two entities.

Some Serb political organizations assume that if Kosovo achieves independence, Republika Srpska will separate from Bosnia and Herzegovina, eventually joining Serbia. However, the Office of the High Representative has come out and specifically denied the prospect of any such territorial exchange. Representatives of the Bosnian Croats largely view the current situation as discriminatory, and seek either the abolition of entities and foundation of a decentralized governmental structure, or a third entity (such as the war-time Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna).

References

External links

A precarious peace, The Economist, 22 January 1998
The EU´s pseudosuccess in Bosnia, Centre for Eastern Studies 2011
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Ongoing erosion of the State, Centre for Eastern Studies 2011

Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Republika Srpska

Cantons of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Una-Sana
Central Bosnia

Posavina
Herzegovina-Neretva

Tuzla
West Herzegovina

Zenica-Doboj
Sarajevo

Bosnian Podrinje
Canton 10

Districts of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Brčko distrikt

Municipalities and cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Capital	Sarajevo

Municipalities and cities of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina	Cities Grad Bihać Grad Mostar Glavni grad Sarajevo Grad Široki Brijeg Grad Tuzla Grad Zenica Municipalities Banovići Bosanska Krupa Bosanski Petrovac Bosansko Grahovo Breza Bugojno Busovača Bužim Čapljina Cazin Čelić Centar, Sarajevo Čitluk Drvar Doboj East Doboj South Dobratići Domaljevac-Šamac Donji Vakuf Foča-Ustikolina Fojnica Glamoč Goražde Gornji Vakuf-Uskoplje Gračanica Gradačac Grude Hadžići Ilidža Ilijaš Jablanica Jajce Kakanj Kalesija Kiseljak Kladanj Ključ Konjic Kreševo Kupres Livno Ljubuški Lukavac Maglaj Neum Novi Grad, Sarajevo Novo Sarajevo Novi Travnik Odžak Olovo Orašje Pale-Prača Posušje Prozor-Rama Ravno Sanski Most Sapna Srebrenik Stari Grad, Sarajevo Stolac Teočak Tešanj Tomislavgrad Travnik Trnovo (FBiH) Usora Vareš Velika Kladuša Visoko Vitez Vogošća Zavidovići Žepče Živinice

Municipalities and cities of Republika Srpska	Cities Grad Banja Luka Grad Bijeljina Grad Doboj Grad Istočno Sarajevo Grad Prijedor Grad Trebinje Municipalities Berkovići Bileća Brod Bratunac Čajniče Čelinac Derventa Donji Žabar Foča Gacko Gradiška Han Pijesak Istočni Drvar Istočna Ilidža Istočni Mostar Istočni Stari Grad Istočno Novo Sarajevo Jezero Kalinovik Kneževo Kostajnica Kozarska Dubica Kotor Varoš Krupa na Uni Kupres Laktaši Ljubinje Lopare Milići Modriča Mrkonjić Grad Nevesinje Novi Grad Novo Goražde Osmaci Oštra Luka Pale Pelagićevo Petrovac Petrovo Prnjavor Ribnik Rogatica Rudo Stanari Šamac Šekovići Šipovo Sokolac Srbac Srebrenica Teslić Trnovo Ugljevik Višegrad Vlasenica Vukosavlje Zvornik

Brčko District	Brčko

Bosnia and Herzegovina topics

History	Illyricum Bosnian Kingdom Ottoman Bosnia and Herzegovina Kingdom of Yugoslavia World War II Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnian War Bosnia and Herzegovina

Geography	Cities Mountains Extreme points Rivers Lakes Climate Protected areas Fauna

Governance	Administrative divisions (Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska) Constitution Government Parliament Politics Presidency Chairman Council of Ministers Chairman Elections Political parties Foreign relations Government Law enforcement LGBT rights Military

Economy	Currency Central Bank Communications Tourism Transport

Society	Bosnians (Bosniaks, Croats, Serbs) Demographics Education Ethnic groups Languages LGBT history Religion

Culture	Architecture Art Cinema Music Cuisine (Ćevapi) Bosnian language Literature Public holidays Radio Television Symbols National Flag Coat of arms Anthem Decorations and medals Name

WikiProject Portal

First-level administrative divisions in European countries

Sovereign states	Albania Andorra Armenia² Austria Azerbaijan¹ Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus² Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia¹ Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Kazakhstan¹ Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia¹ San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey¹ Ukraine United Kingdom Vatican City

States with limited recognition	Abkhazia² Kosovo Nagorno-Karabakh² Northern Cyprus² South Ossetia² Transnistria

¹ Has part of its territory outside Europe. ² Considered European for cultural, political and historical reasons but is geographically in Western Asia.

Table of administrative divisions by country

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, March 30, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.