| Summary/Abstract |
The complex constitutional system in Bosnia and Herzegovina, intended to ensure power sharing between the three main ethnic groups, is characterized by a variety of veto rights in the legislative process. Not only has this system prevented swift decision making but it also discriminates parts of Bosnian society that do not belong to one of the three constituent peoples. The European Union, alongside other organizations, has for years called for these shortcomings to be addressed but has failed in its efforts to bring the intransigent Bosnian policy makers to agree on a compromise and to end the political stalemate in the country. The EU's activities to support constitutional reform were themselves ill fated. By introducing three criteria to systematically analyze the EU's policies, the article illustrates that the EU, after initial reluctance to become seriously engaged as a mediator in the reform negotiations, applied its conditionality inconsistently.
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