srpska

Srpska is the feminine form of the adjective meaning “Serbian” in Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian, and it can appear in various names and phrases referring to Serbia or Serbian-related matters. In common usage, it is also part of the official name Republika Srpska, a political entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Republika Srpska, written in Serbian Cyrillic as Република Српска, is one of the two autonomous entities that compose Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (plus the Brčko District as a directly governed district). The entity is located in the northern and eastern part of the country and has its capital and largest city in Banja Luka. It was established as part of the Dayton Peace Agreement of 1995, which created a complex constitutional framework for BiH with two entity governments and shared central institutions.

Within Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republika Srpska has its own government, president, and National Assembly, and it retains authority over many domestic competences such as education, health care, and policing, while sharing other powers with central BiH institutions. The population is predominantly ethnic Serbs, and Serbian is widely used in administration and education, with Cyrillic script commonly employed alongside Latin script. The economy is diverse, including agriculture, industry, and services, and the entity participates in BiH’s joint institutions and international relations through the state-level framework.