A Philatelic Journey Through Bosnia and Herzegovina

 

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a federation, meaning it is a state composed of multiple entities that share power. These entities are:

1. Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (representing Bosniaks and Croats),
2. Republika Srpska (predominantly Serbian),
3. Brčko District (a self-governing administrative unit with special status).

      

Although Republika Srpska is referred to as a "republic," it is an entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina, not an independent republic. The country as a whole is officially recognized as Bosnia and Herzegovina, a federation with a complex power-sharing structure among its three major ethnic groups.

The political structure is defined by the Dayton Agreement, which established several levels of governance. At the core of this structure are the two main entities: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska. The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina encompasses 51% of the country’s total area, while Republika Srpska covers the remaining 49%. These entities were created as a result of the ethnic divisions that emerged from the Bosnian War, with their borders reflecting the territories controlled by the warring sides at the time.

At the national level, Bosnia and Herzegovina has a limited set of exclusive or joint competencies, with the majority of authority vested within the entities themselves. Sumantra Bose describes Bosnia and Herzegovina as a consociational confederation, where power-sharing ensures that the interests of its major ethnic groups are balanced.

The Brčko District, located in the north, was established in 2000 from land taken from both entities. It officially belongs to both entities but is not governed by either. Instead, it operates under a decentralized local government system. Voters in the Brčko District can choose to participate in elections for either the Federation or Republika Srpska. The district has been praised for maintaining a multiethnic population and achieving a level of prosperity significantly higher than the national average.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a small country with an area of 51,197 km² and a population of 3.5 million. It is the 26th largest country in Europe by area, smaller than Lithuania (65,300 km²) and Latvia (64,589 km²), but larger than Slovakia (49,035 km²), Estonia (45,227 km²), Denmark (42,933 km²), the Netherlands (41,543 km²), and Switzerland (41,290 km²).

 However, it has three postal administrations operating within its territory:

·        BH Pošta is one of three companies responsible for postal service in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The other two are Pošte Srpske and Hrvatska pošta Mostar.[1] BH Pošta operates mainly in Bosniak-majority areas in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.BH Pošta is the largest postal operator in Bosnia and Herzegovina with a wide network of post offices consisting of 386 units with 822 active counters in total, providing a full spectrum of domestic and international postal services.

·      Pošte Srpske (officially Preduzeće za poštanski saobraćaj Republike Srpske a.d.) is one of three     companies responsible for postal service in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The other two are BH Pošta and Hrvatska pošta Mostar. Pošte Srpske operates in Republika Srpska. Before the war conflicts in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Post Yugoslavia was responsible for postal services on the territory of SR BiH. However, at the beginning of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the postal system in Bosnia and Herzegovina fell apart. At the beginning, there were frequent occurrences of armed attacks on Post Office vehicles and roadblocks, which made it impossible to carry out postal exchange.

·        Hrvatska pošta Mostar (English: Croatian Post Mostar) is one of three companies responsible for postal service in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It operates mainly in Croat-majority areas in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its headquarters are in Mostar. It was established in 1993. The other two postal operators in the country are BH Pošta (covering the majority of other customers in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Pošte Srpske (operating in Republika Srpska).