Date of Award

2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Hicks, Barbara

Keywords

Bosnia and Herzegovina, State-Building, Post-Conflict Reconstruction

Area of Concentration

International and Area Studies

Abstract

It has been over seventeen years since the conclusion of the Bosnian War in 1995. The war left the country torn among three ethnicities: Bosniak, Bosnian-Croat, and Bosnian-Serb. The Dayton Accords that ended the war installed a consociational government, establishing a system of executive power-sharing and minority vetoes, as well as an international overseer to ensure a safe transition to democracy. In 1997, the High Representative was given the powers not only to oversee but to single-handedly implement legislation to help the local politicians during times of deadlock. Due to the veto points built into the political structure and the high levels of intervention, a series of pathologies arose, namely, a dependence on the Office of the High Representative that has led to local politicians avoiding hard decisions and transformational compromises that would help to establish a self-sufficient democracy. The level of intervention and the structure of the government following the Dayton Accords have also reinforced ethnicity and ethnic identity as the main organizing mechanism for political life. Before the country is able to progress, and receive EU or NATO membership, it must lose its protectorate status. The international community needs to fully exit, and the constitution needs to be heavily revised or rewritten to reduce the allocation of political power by ethnic group.

Rights

The author has granted New College of Florida the nonexclusive right to archive, make accessible, and distribute for educational purposes this work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The copyright of this work remains with the author.

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