from 1996 to 2007 from 1996 to 2007 The basis for the creation of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was laid down by the
Washington Agreement of March 1994. Under the agreement, the combined territory held by the
Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the
Croatian Defence Council forces was to be divided into ten autonomous cantons along the lines of the
Vance–Owen plan. The cantonal system was selected to prevent dominance of one ethnic group over another. However, much of the territory Croats and Bosniaks claimed for their Federation was at that point still controlled by the Bosnian Serbs. The Washington Agreement was implemented during the spring of 1994, by convoking a Constitutional Assembly, which on 24 June adopted and proclaimed the Constitution of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1995,
Bosniak forces and
Bosnian Croat forces of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina defeated forces of the
Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia, and this territory was added to the federation (
Una-Sana Canton).
Post-war By the
Dayton Agreement of 1995 that ended the four-year war, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was defined as one of the two entities of
Bosnia and Herzegovina, comprising 51% of country's area, alongside
Republika Srpska. Cantons and federal structure were built rather slowly after the war. Separatist Croat
Herzeg-Bosnia institutions existed and functioned parallel to Federation ones up until 1996–1997, when they were phased out. On 8 March 2000, the
Brčko District was formed as an autonomous district within Bosnia and Herzegovina and it was created from part of the territory of both Bosnian entities. Brčko District is now a condominium that belongs to both entities. In 2001–2002, the
Office of the High Representative (OHR) imposed amendments to the Federation's Constitution and its electoral law, in compliance with the decisions of the
Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the political equality of the three constituent peoples (U-5/98). This triggered the grievances of
Bosnian Croats, who claimed they were deprived of their rights to representation as Bosniaks had come to control the majority in the upper house as well. Dissatisfied Croat politicians set up a separate
Croatian National Assembly, held a referendum parallel to the elections and proclaimed
their self-rule in Croat-majority areas in the Federation. Their attempts ended shortly after a crackdown by
SFOR and legal proceedings. Dissatisfied with the representation of Croats in the Federation, Croat political parties insist on creating a
Croat-majority federal unit instead of several cantons.
SDA and other Bosniak parties strongly oppose this. In September 2010, the
International Crisis Group warned that "disputes among and between Bosniak and Croat leaders and a dysfunctional administrative system have paralyzed decision-making, put the entity on the verge of bankruptcy and triggered social unrest". aiming to address the costly and complex governance structures with overlapping competences between the Federation, the Cantons and the municipalities as currently entailed in the Federation Constitution. The initiative was finally not adopted by the Parliament. Following an appeal by HDZ BiH
Božo Ljubić, in December 2016 the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina abolished the electoral formula for the indirect election of the Federation House of People, stating that it did not guarantee the legitimate representation of constituent peoples. Notably, the ruling did not concur with an
amicus curiae opinion of the Venice Commission on the same matter. Lacking legislative amendments to revise the Election Law, in Summer 2018 the
Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina provisionally enacted a new formula for the composition of the House of People, based on the minimal representation formula (one deputy per each constituent people per each canton) and on the
2013 census. In January 2017,
Croatian National Assembly stated that "if Bosnia and Herzegovina wants to become self-sustainable, then it is necessary to have an administrative-territorial reorganization, which would include a federal unit with a Croatian majority. It remains the permanent aspiration of the Croatian people of Bosnia and Herzegovina." In 2022, the High Representative imposed amendments to the federal Constitution and the Election Law, implementing the Ljubic verdict. The changes also reconstructed the original balance of power between Croats and Bosniaks in the Federation, as envisioned in Washington Agreement. In 2023, the High Representative suspended the federal Constitution for one day in order to impose a new government. This created a huge scandal and political crisis. Some saw this as an act of "treason". ==Geographic boundary==