Detailed Information on Publication Record

ČERMÁK, Petr. Bosnian Croat politics since the Dayton: from HDZ dominance to low intra-ethnic competition. In National minorities, migration and security. 2019.

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Basic information
Original name	Bosnian Croat politics since the Dayton: from HDZ dominance to low intra-ethnic competition
Authors	ČERMÁK, Petr.
Edition	National minorities, migration and security, 2019.

Other information
Type of outcome	Presentations at conferences
Confidentiality degree	is not subject to a state or trade secret
Tags	International impact
Changed by	Changed by: Mgr. Petr Čermák, učo 273780. Changed: 28/9/2020 21:17.

Abstract
Since the end of the ethnic war in 1995, politics in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been divided along ethnic lines into three mostly separated political arenas with only minimal cross-ethnic overlap. While intra-ethnic political competition developed between moderate and national parties in Bosniak and Serb political arenas, the politics of Bosnian Croats has been dominated by single ethnic party since 1990s. In all post-Dayton elections, HDZ together with its junior partners controlled most of the Croat politics in Bosnia from municipal level, through cantonal level up to the level of entity and state. On the contrary, any political alternatives, be it other national parties or non-ethnic options, have performed relatively weakly among Bosnian Croats and no strong opposition has developed to the dominant HDZ bloc. The paper explores the causes of political dominance of HDZ on one hand, and of the weakness of political alternatives on the other hand. First, the distribution of votes and political power among Bosnian Croats is examined on different institutional levels through the analysis of data from all post-Dayton elections. Second, causes of the dominance of HDZ and weakness of opposition are discussed based on data gathered through interviews with involved actors and other sources.

Abstract

Since the end of the ethnic war in 1995, politics in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been divided along ethnic lines into three mostly separated political arenas with only minimal cross-ethnic overlap. While intra-ethnic political competition developed between moderate and national parties in Bosniak and Serb political arenas, the politics of Bosnian Croats has been dominated by single ethnic party since 1990s. In all post-Dayton elections, HDZ together with its junior partners controlled most of the Croat politics in Bosnia from municipal level, through cantonal level up to the level of entity and state. On the contrary, any political alternatives, be it other national parties or non-ethnic options, have performed relatively weakly among Bosnian Croats and no strong opposition has developed to the dominant HDZ bloc. The paper explores the causes of political dominance of HDZ on one hand, and of the weakness of political alternatives on the other hand. First, the distribution of votes and political power among Bosnian Croats is examined on different institutional levels through the analysis of data from all post-Dayton elections. Second, causes of the dominance of HDZ and weakness of opposition are discussed based on data gathered through interviews with involved actors and other sources.