Bosnia and Herzegovina Statebuilding and Democratization in the Time of Ethnic-Politics and International Oversight

Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) remains a state of contradictions that is more a democracy on paper than in practice. International intervention stopped the violent conflict, but the peace treaty designed future state structures around the very ethnic-based power struggles that shaped the conflict. As a result, ethnic-based politics continued to dominate political space in BiH ten years after the Dayton Peace Agreement. These politics, combined with high levels of international oversight through the Office of the High Representative, have distorted the statebuilding process, and often reduced democratization efforts to zero-sum games. Internationally led physical reconstruction has resulted in a basic Bosnian state, but the prioritization of peace over building democratic governance and state capacity has meant that only targeted and sustained international actions have managed to result in some level of domestic elite cooperation and functioning state. It is unclear if the state will eventually gain enough legitimacy to be viable and democratic enough to reach its European integration objectives.