High Representative
The highest political authority in the country is the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the chief executive officer for the international civilian presence in the country. Since 1995, the High Representative has been able to bypass the elected parliamentary assembly or to remove elected officials. The methods selected by the High Representative are often seen as dictatorship. Even the symbols of Bosnian statehood (flag, coat of arms) have been chosen by the Highest Representative rather than by the Bosnian people. The source of the authority of the High Representative is essentially contractual. His mandate derives from the Dayton Agreement, as confirmed by the Peace Implementation Council, an ad hoc body with a Steering Board composed of representatives of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK, the United States, the presidency of the European Union, the European Commission, and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
Read more about this topic: Politics Of Bosnia And Herzegovina
Famous quotes containing the word high:
“Parents do not give up their children to strangers lightly. They wait in uncertain anticipation for an expression of awareness and interest in their children that is as genuine as their own. They are subject to ambivalent feelings of trust and competitiveness toward a teacher their child loves and to feelings of resentment and anger when their child suffers at her hands. They place high hopes in their children and struggle with themselves to cope with their children’s failures.”
—Dorothy H. Cohen (20th century)