CENTER AND PERIPHERY IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA - SOCIAL AND SPATIAL INDICATORS OF REGIONAL DISPARITIES

Geographic research continues to be focused on multidimensional categories of center and periphery, as well as margins in the identification of development disparities, mainly in reaction to dynamic polycentric regional development. The detection of key factors that lead to the process of peripheralization is particularly significant for the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a European periphery with specific implications of such a status on the border regions. The statistical significance between the chosen peripheral (border) and central regions was analyzed using 50 specified criteria, divided into groups that represent various dimensions of peripheralization. Despite statistical limits, the results based on two-sample t-test reveal a certain degree of applicability in the use of specific statistical variables for determining peripheral areas. The relationship between the center and periphery in Bosnia and Herzegovina has never before been scientifically explored using a variety of spatial, economic, demographic, educational, cultural, and political indicators.