Promulgation of the 1946 constitution of the People’s Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina as the final stage of the People’s Liberation Struggle

The People’s Liberation Struggle in Bosnia-Hercegovina, led by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (KPJ) but incorporating a broader section of Bosnian society, was a BosnianHercegovinian national-liberation struggle. It was waged under Bosnian-Hercegovinian patriotic slogans, organised administratively through a Bosnian-Hercegovinian framework and aimed ultimately at establishment of Bosnian-Hercegovinian statehood within a federal Yugoslavia. The promulgation of the constitution of the People’s Republic of BosniaHercegovina represented the culmination of this movement. Although the KPJ ensured this constitution would accord with its goals and policy, it had not worked out its goals beforehand in its entirety. Nor was it able to choreograph the process of promulgation seamlessly. Disagreements and tensions in the movement therefore emerged, reflecting its heterogeneity and the wider tensions in Bosnian-Hercegovinian society.