People in Mostar, Bosnia Herzegovina. Editorial credit: Botond Horvath / Shutterstock.com

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is a highly decentralized parliamentary republic whose complex constitutional regime is embedded in the Dayton Peace Agreement, which ended the 1992–95 Bosnian War. Political affairs are characterized by severe partisan gridlock among nationalist leaders from the country’s Bosniak, Serb, and Croat communities. Political participation by citizens from other communities is extremely limited. Corruption remains a serious problem in the government and elsewhere in society.

Volunteers clean up the rubbles from a destroyed residential building in Borodyanka. Following the recapture of Borodyanka by the Ukrainian forces, the city was heavily devastated and turned into ruins under intense fighting and shelling.

Nations in Transit — Bosnia and Herzegovina Country Report

Bosnia and Herzegovina is categorized as a Transitional or Hybrid regime in the Nations in Transit 2023, Freedom House's annual study on the state of democracy in the region stretching from Central Europe to Central Asia.

Freedom in the World 2023

Freedom in the World — Bosnia and Herzegovina Country Report

Bosnia and Herzegovina is rated Partly Free in Freedom in the World 2023, Freedom House's annual study of political rights and civil liberties worldwide.