The Swiss Embassy and SDC's Cooperation Office in Sarajevo initiated a series of round-table discussions to stimulate the ongoing discussion on the constitution. These are generating keen interest.
jtm. Ten years after the end of the war, Bosnia and Herzegovina is no model of institutional stability and economic progress. Observers blame the Dayton constitution, the contents and objectives of which find little resonance among the population. "This Dayton coat is not cut to meet the needs of the citizens of Bosnia; it is too narrow and is bursting at the seams," explains SDC collaborator Alma Zukorlic. She is involved with the "Platform Bosnia- Herzegovina" project, through which the Swiss Embassy and the Cooperation Office are aiming to support the debate launched by intellectuals in favour of a reform of the state structure and the Bosnian constitution.
Adolf Muschg holds forth in Sarajevo
The first three of the 10 planned roundtable discussions with Bosnian experts and Swiss VIPs found major resonance among the public and Bosnian media. The round-table discussions examined topics that were foremost in the minds of many Bosnian citizens: the right of codeliberation, community autonomy, integration of minorities and peripheral regions. Areas, incidentally, in which Switzerland has years of experience and can draw on proven models. Following Georg Kreis (University of Basle) and Nicolas Hayoz (University of Fribourg), it is the turn of Adolf Muschg on 28 June. The author will hold forth in Sarajevo on the role of culture and intercultural dialogue in state and society.