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College of Business and Technical Education in Doboj , Doboj , Bosnia and Herzegovina
The Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, i.e., Annex 4 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina is in many ways specific in relation to the general notion of the constitution, as the highest legal document, which is its basic characteristic. The Constitution of BiH, by its very nature, is only one of the eleven Annexes to that Agreement. That is the reason why such a Constitution is not really a Constitution from the point of view of constitutional and international law, but it is an imposed, obtruded and octroized Constitution, or rather a multilateral international agreement. Such a Constitution was not created as a result of the political will of the people in BiH, but as a product of the will of the international community. Since the signing of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, on December 14, 1995, also known as the Dayton Agreement and the Dayton Constitution, to this day, the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the subject of analysis in BiH itself, as well as in neighboring and other countries in the world. The Constitution of BiH is, both formally and materially, an incomplete and specific legal act, which established one of the most complex forms of state organization in the world, which is also one of the characteristics of that Constitution. The Dayton Constitution of BiH has other characteristics-shortcomings: it was not created according to the usual formal-legal model, i.e. dogmatic-legal method, many terms are inadequate in the constitutional text, some legal norms are vague, and there are many other unresolved issues and legal emptiness, which all opened numerous dilemmas and different interpretations of certain provisions of the Constitution by political entities and even legal theorists in BiH and beyond. Certain legal norms that could not be explained by "the letter of Dayton", some theorists and representatives of the international community, explained by "the spirit of Dayton". Amendments to the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina were imposed mainly through the Office of the High Representative (OHR) in BiH, which also affected changes in its state polity (transfer of competencies from the entities to BiH institutions). Although a lot of time has passed since the signing of the Dayton Agreement and the adoption of the Constitution of BiH, it is still a very current topic in BiH and beyond. Regardless of all the shortcomings and weaknesses, the Constitution of BiH has its positive sides, which will be discussed in more detail in the paper. In addition to these introductory considerations, the paper will address the following issues: characteristics of the constitutional order of Bosnia and Herzegovina, administrative division of Bosnia and Herzegovina, competencies of Bosnia and Herzegovina, specifics of the political and economic system of BiH, limitation of BiH sovereignty. The paper will provide answers to very current questions, both in the past and today, whether the Constitution of BiH should be changed, whether the transfer of competencies from the entities to the BiH institutions has been stopped, whether it is possible to return the transferred competencies from the institutions to the entities, as well as other issues specific to the BiH Constitution.
The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, constitution, constitutional order, sovereignty, sovereignty of BiH, international community
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