Legal basis of the security system in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The article is an attempt to present and analyze the legal basis of the security system in Bosnia and Herzegovina. There are presented both its origin and subsequent evolution, which was mostly shaped by a direct pressure from the representatives of the international community. The article describes the roles played by the various organs of state power, with particular emphasis on the three-person Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Council of Ministers and the Parliament. Moreover, there is a description of the legal framework for functioning of the military and selected police forces.

UN High Representative Within the Bosnia and Herzegovina State’s Authorities – Quantification

The aim of this article is to analyze the position of the UN High Representative within the state structures of Bosnia and Herzegovina in terms of quantity. This institution is so unique that its character and functioning have been the subject of many discussions. The article analyzes activities of the High Representative since establishment and on this basis conclusions were drawn regarding the present and future of this institution. Main trends in the evaluation of the High Representative’s activities altogether were also mentioned with proposed ways of modification of this institution in directions that eliminate allegations about the lack of democracy or constitutionality of this body. This article not only fills the niche in the subject matter, but updates the research conducted so far regarding to the field of the High Representative’s activity.

Niniejsza praca jest prezentacją drugich izb parlamentu w krajach byłej Jugosławii, jakimi są Słowenia oraz Bośnia i Hercegowina. Jako jedyne w regionie zdecydowały się one na przyjęcie bikameralnego porządku w ramach władzy ustawodawczej. Pomimo bliskości geograficznej i wspólnej historii ustrojodawcy obu państw postanowili przyjąć znacząco inny, oryginalny kształt porównywanych do siebie ciał ustawodawczych, wyróżniających się na skalę światową. Co więcej, każda z nich została obdarzona różnymi kompetencjami, z czego wynika pozycja wobec pierwszej izby parlamentu, a także pozostałych organów władzy państwowej. Artykuł ten stanowi więc przekrój i pogłębioną charakterystykę polityczno- prawną Izby Narodów Bośni i Hercegowiny oraz Rady Państwa Słowenii, a także zawiera propozycje zmian systemowych.

„Hatred feeds us with a goblet”: the break-up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s in geopolitical imaginations of the Polish popular music

The article focuses on the interference of Polish popular music and geopolitics after 1989. Songs selected from various trends of the Polish popular music made the source material of the text. The basic study method involved critical discourse analysis of the lyrics. The hierarchical East-West axis, which was also applied to the Balkans and Yugoslavia, was fundamental to Polish geopolitical perceptions. The musical image of Yugoslavia from the 1990s seemed repulsive with its strangeness and “Easternness”, which were proven by bloody wars and crimes in Bosnia and Kosovo. In the name of superiority of the Western world and geopolitical interests, musicians appealed to Western countries for military interventions in the former Yugoslavia. At the same time, they strengthened the direction towards the occidentalization of Poland as a condition for its security and development at the price of submission to the dominance of the West in the world and in Europe.

In this article, I would like to show that the “Siege of Sarajevo” is one such fragment of the past that has grown into a national myth. It will not be an abuse to say that today this city, by the fact that it constantly bears the marks of war, has become a kind of sanctuary for the Bosnian ethnos.