27 May 2002

Dear Editor,

I was disconcerted to read the article on
Bosnia-Herzegovina "Bosnia’s Future in the Balance,"
authored by members of the--presumably ironically
named--Democratization Policy Institute. The authors
state that electoral rules should somehow be amended
to force “nationalist” parties to reach out beyond
their usual groups. 

Whatever one thinks of such parties, such blatant
electoral engineering is far from democratic. Do the
authors recommend such a course of action for, let us
say, Northern Ireland? Or do their recommendations
only apply to people they feel can more easily be
pushed about? 

The peoples of Bosnia-Herzegovina have a right to vote
for who they like, just like all Europeans. Their
choices should not be diminished by bizarre attempts
at social engineering, which can only produce
conflict. Politics must be allowed to develop
naturally. 

Paddy Ashdown is renowned in the UK for his democratic
sensibilities. I hope he treat the ideas from the
authors of this article with the contempt they
deserve. 

Brian Gallagher 
Split, Croatia 

http://www.tol.cz/look/TOLnew/section.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrIssue=22&NrSection=8