Political quotas and ethnic engineering in the Western Balkans

Measures implemented to protect vulnerable ethnic groups are increasingly abused in Bosnia and Kosovo.

Quotas are an imperfect yet often necessary means for societies to rectify the deficiencies of democratic processes, especially in ethnically or culturally pluralist countries. In Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina, quotas and other protections have been implemented to ensure that certain communities that may face discrimination in a post-conflict environment are guaranteed political representation in legislative and executive bodies. In Kosovo, 20 out of the parliament’s 120 seats are allocated to minorities, including 10 for the Serbs and the rest for the Bosniaks, Egyptians, Roma, Ashkali, Turks and Gorani. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, where all political activity has an ethnic character, there are rigid quotas that ensure its three main ethnic groups – the Bosniaks, the Croats and the Serbs – are equally represented at every level.