The peace negotiations in Dayton marked one of the historic moments in which the political maturity of the Serb people was once again demonstrated, said Professor of Constitutional Law Siniša Karan.
On the anniversary of the start of peace talks on Bosnia and Herzegovina in Dayton, Karan told Srna that this was a period in which political will and statesmanlike wisdom were translated into the Dayton Agreement — a document that brought peace, stability, and a clear constitutional order.
“Republika Srpska and Dayton Bosnia and Herzegovina rest on four pillars: the people’s will, international verification, economic independence, and the strength of institutions — and on three principles of a functional federal state: parity, consensus, and division of competencies,” Karan emphasized.
He noted that the first of the four pillars is the people’s will, reminding that Republika Srpska was created as an expression of the authentic will of the people, with the democratic legitimacy of its institutions as its strongest shield.
“The second pillar is international verification. The Dayton Peace Agreement is an international treaty that forms part of international law, which means the status of Republika Srpska itself has become part of the international legal order. That is its legal and political security.
Economic independence is the third pillar of Republika Srpska — without an independent economy, there can be no institutional sovereignty. Therefore, economic development is the most concrete form of preserving Dayton,” explained Karan.
According to him, the fourth pillar is the strength of institutions, as they serve as the solid foundation of the constitutional order.
“The Constitution of Republika Srpska and the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which are harmonized, as well as their institutions, are not abstract categories. They are living mechanisms that protect the constitutional order and guarantee survival and stability,” said Karan.
He added that the three principles of a functional federal state are parity — equality of entities and peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s joint institutions and decision-making processes; consensus — a mechanism protecting the constitutiveness of peoples, meaning that without agreement there can be no decisions; and division of competencies — clearly defined and inalienable without the consent of the entities.
“The division and presumption of competencies in favor of the entities prove that Bosnia and Herzegovina — with one entity organized unitarily and the other federally — is in fact an asymmetric federation with elements of a confederation,” Karan explained.
He recalled that the Dayton Agreement was signed when the warring sides accepted a compromise, each achieving the minimum of its respective demands.
“The peace agreement established an asymmetrical confederal-federal complex state composed of highly autonomous, ethnically based entities, with central institutions of limited but sufficient international legal capacity. In other words, Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of two state-forming units. It was accepted by all three peoples and confirmed by the international community,” Karan said.
He noted that the Dayton Agreement did not fully satisfy any of the parties, but all accepted it because it fulfilled the minimum of each side’s demands.
“Republika Srpska achieved the minimum of its goals within the structure of the newly formed complex state, gaining ethno-territorial representation, the constitutiveness of peoples, and equality as an entity — something a little less than a state, but far more than a territorial autonomy,” Karan explained.
He pointed out that the thesis claiming the Dayton Constitution is the reason for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s dysfunction is merely a disguise for the political agenda of the Bosniak elite — an aspiration for absolute dominance and appropriation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by negating Dayton and thereby ‘resolving’ the position of Serbs in the country.
Karan stated that Republika Srpska has, since the signing of the agreement, consistently defended the Dayton framework, its constitutional position, equality, democratic order, and its historical and state-forming continuity.
“Persistently, institutionally, and in accordance with constitutional and legal principles, Srpska has been fighting to preserve the original Dayton. This struggle is neither mere political rhetoric nor a reaction to daily political challenges, but a thirty-year-long, substantive legal and constitutional resistance to attempts at unitarization,” Karan explained.
He emphasized that the defense of the Dayton Peace Agreement and its annexes does not represent the defense of the past, but the protection of the foundations of a functional, stable, and legally ordered Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“It is precisely these four pillars and three principles that form the foundation of stability for Republika Srpska and Bosnia and Herzegovina — not, as the unitarians claim, obstacles to development. In other words, four plus three is the formula for the survival of Dayton Bosnia and Herzegovina,” concluded Professor of Constitutional Law Siniša Karan.
Source: RTRS
