Search

After the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of ‘Sejdic&Finci vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina’, it is evident that election system of Bosnia and Herzegovina is discriminatory and that it is necessary to conduct systematic reform of this area, in order to satisfy the basic principles of contemporary democratic election systems, and in order to make election system, together with the B&H Constitution, compatible with the European Convention On Protection Of Human Rights And Fundamental Freedoms.

This text represents summary version of the final report on research conducted as part of the project of „Monitoring candidates‟ respect of their commitment to ethical behavior during the election campaign.' (or 'Monitoring of pre-election campaign') Research was conducted during period of June 1, 2010 to November 1, 2010 on the entire territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H). The aims of research titled „Monitoring candidates‟ respect of their commitment to ethical behavior during the election campaign‟ were to conduct monitoring of pre-election rhetoric of 1. key political subjects, 2. most influential media and 3. inside institutions of power and entire public discourse for the first time in B&H.

Following widespread democratization processes in Eastern and Central Europe, in November 1990 the first multi-party elections were held in Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter, Bosnia or BiH). These elections were among the first indicators that marked the democratic transition of the country from the communist regime to liberal democracy. However, political parties in the country were allowed to be organized along ethnic lines resulting in the nationalist parties together collecting 84% of the vote (Arnautovic, 2007: 7). Thus, an organization of the first democratic elections in the country marked the start of the political hegemony of nationalist political parties as the majority of the electorate voted for nationalist parties; that is, Bosniaks voted for Party of Democratic Action (SDA), Bosnian Serbs for Serbian Democratic Party (SDS), and Bosnian Croats for the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) (Freedom House, 2010: 122). To illustrate, even the post-election distribution of power was based upon ethnic principles so that the President of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was a Bosniak, president of the Parliament was a Serb, and the prime minister was a Croat representative. Furthermore, the war that broke out in 1992 further increased ethnic hatred and intolerance, resulting in ethnicity and ethnic solidarity as a dominant social and political cleavage.

During the Cold War the European Community lacking common military instruments was perceived as the example of a civilian power. However, in the early 1990s, under the framework of CFSP, the first concrete defence initiatives have been launched. By the end of the 1990s and after the agreement on the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) the first Rapid Reaction Forces were on the European military agenda. Such defence and military capabilities challenged the idea of the EU as a civil or civilian power. Thus, a main concern in the paper has been to assess the character and identity of the EU`s activities in the context of international relations. For this purpose, this study has explored the EU policy instruments such as the enlargement policy, external aid, environmental policy at the global level, multilateralism, and the EU armed forces. The study concludes that the enlargement policy accounts for an important EU strategy to shape the international environment through civilian means. Furthermore, the international aid policy of the EU states has primarily been based on the sense of duty to other countries as constructivists point out. The EU has also been vocal and has used environmental foreign policy as an instrument to demonstrate its global leadership role which is a clear indication of its commitment to global welfare. Thanks to its presence in the major multilateral interventions of the last decade, the EU has qualified itself as great supporter of multilateralism. Lastly, the EU military capabilities are not achieved by creating permanent European armed forces but are still based on the voluntary contributions of its member states. Therefore, the EU still can be portrayed as a global civilian power (GCP) or civilian power Europe (CPE).