Level and pace of the regional development of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the context of integration into the European union

The main goal of this paper is to assess the level andpace of regional development of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the one hand, and theEuro-Atlantic path of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a potential candidate for EUmembership on the other. In the empirical part of the research, the spatialcomponent encompassed the regionalization of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Theresearch also included an analysis of the process of the integration of Bosniaand Herzegovina into the European Union from the aspect of pre-accessionassistance to candidate countries and potential candidates in the function ofpromoting regional development. The primary research of regional developmentand assessment of the level of development as well as the scope of structuralpolicies in overcoming the key political, social and economic problems thathinder the development and improvement of the economic integration of Bosniaand Herzegovina towards the European Union are limited to the territory ofBosnia and Herzegovina. The basic scientific methods used in the work and for givinganswers to research questions are historical and comparative methods. Theyconsist of methods and indicators of statistical analysis (indices, growthrates, participation rates, coefficients, averages). Specific scientificmethods used in the process of this work are: the method of analysis, the synthesismethod, the induction method, the descriptor method, the deduction method, theclassification method and the comparison method. The empirical results of theresearch confirm that Bosnia and Herzegovina is faced with the problem ofregional development with a pronounced imbalance between the areas within thewhole territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is a confirmation for the needfor systemic policy as well as regional development policy at the level ofBosnia and Herzegovina that would be in line with the policies of the EuropeanUnion.