Time for one person, one vote?

Q:  Is the US stepping in Bosnia again with the aim to fix it? [Assistant Secretary of State] Victoria Nuland recently talked ab0ut it.

A:  I’ve heard a lot of rumbling, but I have not heard a clear plan. The only kind of plan that will work is one that mobilizes at least a few of the Europeans as well. See With Europeans, not without them | peacefare.net.

Q:  How do you see attempts to implement Sejdic – Finci verdict?

A:  I’m a simple guy. The first solution I think of is one president, no ethnic or territorial restrictions. As there will always be more than one Bosniak candidate, in order to win, there would be a strong incentive to assemble a cross-ethnic coalition. That would be good. What’s wrong with that? If you don’t like it, try one president and two vice presidents, elected as a package. No ethnic or territorial restrictions. Two rounds of voting. Or elect the president in parliament if you prefer.

Q:  The negotiations with the EU representatives are going for sometime. Is it going nowhere?

A:  I don’t really know. The Europeans have their own ways of doing things. They aren’t likely to take my straightforward approaches. I’ve heard some pretty complicated and wacky proposals, all intended to preserve the power of ethnic nationalists. They are so complicated I can’t reproduce them from memory. Why would Bosnian citizens want something more complicated than Dayton? I do hope the Europeans will stop feeding assistance that strengthens those who are slowing Bosnia’s progress towards Europe.

Q:  How do you see the role of the international community in Bosnia today? Are they lost?

A:  Rudderless, not lost. They know where they are. They need someone to point in the right direction. If the Bosnians don’t, Washington might. How did that work out last time? Dayton has not brought prosperity and good governance to Bosnia. We tried hard with the negotiations that led to the April package, but Bosnians rejected it.

Q:  What would be your advice to the Bosnians? What should they do to change situation in country?

A:  My advice? Take charge of your own country. Vote for people who offer more than empty promises about ethnic protection. Insist on honesty and efficient services. Expose corruption. Ally with people who share your real interests in a prosperous, efficient, secure and stable European state. End the reliance on ethnic bosses.

During the war, a Bosnian politician told me one-person, one-vote would never work in Bosnia. Dayton was what the ethnically nationalist political parties preferred, and we imposed it for them. For 18 years you’ve tried to make it work. It hasn’t. Maybe it is time for something simple: one-person, one vote.

Let me add something I did not say in the interview.  The reason Bosnians usually give for not wanting one-person, one-vote is that they don’t want to be “outvoted” by an ethnic majority.  But ethnic majorities are rarely unified in a democratic state, so ethnic minorities often have an opportunity to protect themselves by allying with one faction or another.  The real purpose of the group rights provisions in the Dayton and Federation constitutions is to preserve the monopoly on power of ethnically defined political parties.  They have managed that reasonably well for close to 20 years.  It really is time to try something new, but of course the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina should decide what that is.