Bosnia’s political future looks increasingly like its past

The latest general elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, held on October 4, repeated a pattern familiar from most electoral contests over the past three decades. The decisive victory of parties organised largely along ethnic lines – which many would rightly describe as nationalist – came as no surprise. It is therefore difficult to disagree with analysts and experts who say the country has been set back 30 years and faces an even grimmer future.The last two years have seen arguably the greatest crisis of the post-war period, and the results of Sunday’s elections offer little hope for improvement in the coming years. The spectre of nationalism, division and overt assaults on the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity reinforces the increasingly common notion that a “continuation of the war by peaceful means” is under way – meaning that while armed conflict ceased three decades ago, hostilities, objectives and the struggle for power persist through political, economic, diplomatic and information channels.House of Peoples still in the hands of anti-Bosnian forcesThe extremely complicated Bosnian electoral system – one state, two entities, Brcko District, three constituent peop...