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62. U.S. Policy and Bosnia-Herzegovina: An Assessment
- Author:
- David Binder, Dr. Steven Meyer, and Obrad Kesic
- Publication Date:
- 06-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- United States Institute of Peace
- Abstract:
- This is the final of three papers (read the first and second papers) USIP will publish on Bosnia-Herzegovina, each with a different analytical perspective on what is happening in Bosnia and what needs to be done there to prevent a return to violence. We hope that these papers will generate a debate on options that might be pursued by the U.S. government (USG), Europe and Bosnians. These papers will be discussed at a public forum at the United States Institute of Peace on June 25, 2009.
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention, Foreign Policy, and Peace Studies
- Political Geography:
- United States, Europe, Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Balkans
63. Bosnia: A Test of Political Maturity in Mostar
- Publication Date:
- 07-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- The administration of Mostar is collapsing, a warning sign for Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). There has been no mayor, budget or functioning city council since an October 2008 election; tension threatens to poison relations between the leading Bosniak and Croat parties, which are coalition partners throughout BiH. The crisis is rooted in ethnic demographics, recent conflict history and a city statute that replicates many of the power-sharing rules that govern the state. Mostar's Croat majority, much like the state's Bosniak majority, chafes against these rules, considering them illegitimate and foreign-imposed, and seeks to force the Office of the High Representative (OHR – the international community's peace implementation body) to impose a solution on its behalf. Yet, a fair solution is within the council's competence and, like the city's chronic grievances, can best be handled without the High Representative using his extraordinary (Bonn) powers. The international community should deliver the message that fourteen years after the end of their war, it is time for the Bosnians to take responsibility for their own futures.
- Topic:
- Politics and Governance
- Political Geography:
- Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Balkans
64. Democracy in Slow Motion
- Author:
- Bryan N. Groves
- Publication Date:
- 02-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Department of Social Sciences at West Point, United States Military Academy
- Abstract:
- Bosnia-Herzegovina's democratization is in slow motion. On the outside it appears that the framework for democracy is in place. A closer look reveals that it lacks the civil society to under gird its political institutions. As Piotr Sztompka points out, "building a house is not the same as establishing a home. The former is only the shell, the empty framework ... it is a concern for architects. The latter is the living arena of social actions and interactions ... it is the concern for sociology. The more or less explicit recognition of that distinction between the institutional and the cultural-civilizational spheres is also indicated by other terms, i.e. public sphere versus civil society" (Sztompka, 1996 in Chandler, 2000). Bosnia-Herzegovina-from here forward Bosnia-lacks the inner workings that distinguish a home from a house.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Development, Regional Cooperation, Treaties and Agreements, and International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Bosnia and Balkans
65. A New Agenda for Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Author:
- Jim O'Brien
- Publication Date:
- 08-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- United States Institute of Peace
- Abstract:
- USIP has circulated several papers analyzing the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Collectively, they offer diverse but insightful portraits of developments in Bosnia. This short note takes a different approach. I focus on what can be done, not on causes or description. Because there is attention or money for only a few things to be done in Bosnia, we should pick our initiatives carefully.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Peace Studies, and War
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Balkans
66. Bosnia: A Cultural Mosaic of Great Potential
- Author:
- Thomas P. Melady
- Publication Date:
- 10-2009
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Institution:
- Council of American Ambassadors
- Abstract:
- Bosnia is a cultural mosaic of well-established Serb Orthodox, Catholic Croat and Bosnian Muslim communities. This nation can become, like Switzerland, an example of people with diverse cultures living in peace and harmony as neighbors.
- Political Geography:
- Bosnia and Switzerland
67. The Current Status of Religious Coexistence and Education in Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Author:
- Renata Stuebner
- Publication Date:
- 11-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- United States Institute of Peace
- Abstract:
- This report is intended to examine the status of religious reconciliation and coexistence in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Bosnia and Herzegovina's centuries-old tradition of religious coexistence is rapidly disappearing. Memories of a time when people shared the same schools, office space and living conditions are slowly giving way to a fear of “the others.” Some positive interactions still take place due to family ties from mixed marriages, economic interdependence and old, enduring friendships. However, some efforts of top religious leaders, similar to those of the nationalistic politicians, seem to be driving society in the opposite direction.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Ethnic Conflict, and War
- Political Geography:
- Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Balkans
68. Military and civilian ESDP Missions: Ever Growing and Effective?
- Author:
- Nicoletta Pirozzi and Sammi Sandawi
- Publication Date:
- 06-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Istituto Affari Internazionali
- Abstract:
- Even if the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) seems for many observers a well-established field of activity of the European Union, it must not be overlooked that it is still a young and on many aspects quite unpractised endeavour of the EU. Only in 2003 – after a four-year period of institution building, strategic considerations and civil/military capability development – ESDP became officially operational, and started in Bosnia and Herzegovina its first field mission.
- Topic:
- Security and Defense Policy
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Balkans
69. The Death of Dayton
- Author:
- Patrice C. McMahon and Jon Western
- Publication Date:
- 09-2009
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Foreign Affairs
- Institution:
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Abstract:
- After 14 years of intense international efforts to stabilize and rebuild Bosnia, the country now stands on the brink of collapse. For the first time since November 1995 -- when the Dayton accord ended three and a half years of bloody ethnic strife -- Bosnians are once again talking about the potential for war. Bosnia was once the poster child for international reconstruction efforts. It was routinely touted by U.S. and European leaders as proof that under the right conditions the international community could successfully rebuild conflict-ridden countries. The 1995 Dayton peace agreement divided Bosnia into two semi-independent entities: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, inhabited mainly by Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats, and the Serb-dominated Republika Srpska (Serb Republic, or RS), each with its own government, controlling taxation, educational policy, and even foreign policy. Soon after the war's end, the country was flooded with attention and over $14 billion in international aid, making it a laboratory for what was arguably the most extensive and innovative democratization experiment in history. By the end of 1996, 17 different foreign governments, 18 UN agencies, 27 intergovernmental organizations, and about 200 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) -- not to mention tens of thousands of troops from across the globe -- were involved in reconstruction efforts. On a per capita basis, the reconstruction of Bosnia -- with less than four million citizens -- made the post-World War II rebuilding of Germany and Japan look modest. As successful as Dayton was at ending the violence, it also sowed the seeds of instability by creating a decentralized political system that undermined the state's authority. In the past three years, ethnic nationalist rhetoric from leaders of the country's three constituent ethnic groups -- Muslims, Croats, and Serbs -- has intensified, bringing reform to a standstill. The economy has stalled, unemployment is over 27 percent, about 25 percent of the population lives in poverty, and Bosnia remains near the bottom of World Bank rankings for business development.
- Topic:
- Development
- Political Geography:
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
70. Xavier Bougarel, Elissa Helms, and Gerlachlus Duijzings, The New Bosnian Mosaic: Identities, Memories, and Moral Claims in a Post-War Society
- Author:
- Christine Zubrinic
- Publication Date:
- 12-2009
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Central European University Political Science Journal
- Institution:
- Central European University
- Abstract:
- Since the dissolution of Yugoslavia and the subsequent wars, Bosnia has become a symbol of emerging ethnic nationalism as well as a model for studies in peacekeeping and post- conflict reconstruction. The New Bosnian Mosaic: Identities, Memories and Moral Claims in a Post-War Society edited by Xavier Bougarel is a rich contribution to the study of post- conflict transition and reconstruction from an anthropological and ethnographic perspective that allows the reader to better understand the quandaries faced by Bosnia and those involved in post-Dayton reconstruction. The New Bosnian Mosaic is a collection of academic essays written by researchers in the fields of anthropology, ethnic studies and international relations between the most pivotal years of Bosnia's reconstruction between 1999 and 2003. The wealth of academic and field experience brought forth by the contributors gives the work a completeness often lacking in other works of the same subject matter. By incorporating these experiences this work succeeds in answering the large and daunting questions which surround Bosnia's past, present and future without falling victim to the generalizations which often plague academic research on the problems facing Bosnia.
- Political Geography:
- Bosnia and Yugoslavia