DIRECT DEMOCRACY IN ASYMMETRICAL FEDERAL ORGANIZATION OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Sahadžić mr. sc. Maja (mr. sc. Maja Sahadžić, Pravni fakultet Univerziteta u Antwerpenu), maja.sahadzic@uantwerpen.be

From the positive legal standpoint, the evaluation of direct democracy application at the national level in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BaH) is quite puzzling. This is because the legal basis for the referendum decision-making at the state level has not been determined in positive regulations. Also, for several reasons, this issue performs as a bitter substance within forced and barely shaped constitutional system of BaH. Eo ipso, along different understandings of the issue, the analysis of this topic is discrete and influenced by the legal inventiveness that flirts with the political patronage of different bases. In this regard, this paper focuses on an objective legal analysis of the possibilities for the referendum decision-making at the state level in BaH.

Keywords: direct democracy, referendum, state level, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Austria