Power assessment in Bosnia-Herzegovina

Bosnia-Herzegovina has one of the most complicated political systems in the world, a result of the war that ravaged the country in early 1990s. The division into two entities, one of which is further divided into ten cantons, each with a complete government structure, makes Bosnia-Herzegovina into fertile ground for many kinds of research in political sciences and economics.

In an ongoing project, Wellesley College student Shraddha Anand is looking at the power distribution among the many parties comprising the governments of the Bosnia-Herzegovina cantons, entities, and the entire country. The calculations of the Banzhaf and the Shapley-Shubik indices are starting to reveal interesting patterns, especially when amended with the information of what some likely or unlikely coalitions might be. Another aspect of this research is an analysis of how alternative voting methods, such as instant runoff, would affect the power distribution at various levels of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian government.