The CESS backgrounder offers a wealth of information on a specific topic in a visually attractive manner. The backgrounders are stand-alone publications but are also used during CESS training courses to bring participants quickly up-to-speed on issues of democracy and security.

The basics of democratic security sector oversight in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Compiled by Jos Boonstra, Benjamin Plevljak, Boris Trivanovic, Wouter Van der Horst and Saxon Wright-Casanova.

Are Bosnia and Herzegovina’s democratic development scores up or down? How do the House of Representatives and House of People of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina exercise oversight? What is the difference between National Assembly and the Council of Peoples in the Republika Srpska? These three backgrounders – state level and entity level – offer answers to these questions and many more in one quick glance.

The backgrounders are part of the BIHOS project that seeks to strengthen democratic governance and inclusive oversight of the security sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina. BIHOS is implemented by CESS in cooperation with the Centre for Security Studies (CSS) and the European Defendology Center (EDC) from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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Bosnia and Herzegovina: Democratic Oversight of Security

Bosnia and Herzegovina – Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Democratic Oversight of Security

Bosnia and Herzegovina – Republika Srpska: Democratic Oversight of Security

The basics of democratic security oversight: Albania, Kosovo, and North Macedonia
Compiled by Jos Boonstra, Enea Shehaj and Theoni Stamatopoulou

What is the role of the Albanian Assembly in overseeing security? How does the National Audit Office of Kosovo contribute to assessing security spending? In what capacity is the Ombudsman of North Macedonia part of the democratic system of security oversight? These backgrounders offer answers to these questions and many more in one quick glance.

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Albania: Democratic security oversight

Kosovo: Democratic security oversight

North-Macedonia: Democratic security oversight