Bosnien & Hercegovina och det politiska systemet efter Dayton - Etnisk polarisering som en konsekvens av ”Consociational Democracy”?

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this essay is to investigate the impact of the Dayton Accords in relation to ethnic division. As part of Lijphart’s theory of Consociational Democracy he proposes a set of institutional solutions for how to create sustainable democracy in divided societies. My hypothesis was that the principles laid forth by Lijphart would have a negative impact on ethnic division in the country. Since his theory is said to be the most suitable for divided society I wanted to see if it had accomplished to decrease ethnic division. In this study I measure ethnic division in terms of voters support for the three main ethno-nationalist parties HDZ, SDA and SDS. If their support had not fallen since the first election in 1996 my conclusion would be that Lijphart’s theory had serious flaws. If this turns out to be true I believe it is an interesting contribution to the studying of democratization in divided societies. A theory as influential as Lijphart’s should always be under scrutiny to ensure that it gets an opportunity to evolve and get better. Since democratization affect people’s lives it is important that the recommendations put forth by scientists are as flawless as possible.