Bosnia

David Chandler

Description

The Dayton Accords brought the Bosnian war to an end in November 1995, establishing a detailed framework for the reconstitution of the Bosnian state and its consolidation through a process of democratisation.



In Bosnia David Chandler makes the first in-depth critical analysis of the policies and impact of post-Dayton democratisation. Drawing on interviews with key officials within the OSCE in Bosnia and extensive original research exploring the impact of policies designed to further political pluralism, develop multi-ethnic administrations, protect human rights and support civil society,



Chandler reveals that the process has done virtually nothing to develop democracy in this troubled country. Political autonomy and accountability are now further away than at any time since the outbreak of the Bosnian war.
Acknowledgements

List of Abbreviations

1. The Democratisation Discourse

2. Dayton and Sovereignty

3. Power-sharing and Multi-ethnic Administrations

4. The Protection of Human Rights

5. Challenging Nationalism: The Supervision of Elections and

Support for an Open Media

6. Building Civil Society

7. Assessments

8. The External Dynamic of Democratisation

9. Conclusion

Afterword

Bibliography

Index

Sujets

• International Relations
• Political Science
• Bosnia y Herzegovina
• General officer
• European Union
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• General
• Bosnie-Herzégovine

Informations

• Publié par: Pluto Press
• Date de parution: 20 mars 2000
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781849641050
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Bosnia Faking Democracy After Dayton Second Edition

David Chandler

P Pluto Press LONDON • STERLING, VIRGINIA

First published 1999 by Pluto Press 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA and 22883 Quicksilver Drive, Sterling, VA 20166–2012, USA

Second edition 2000

Copyright © David Chandler 1999, 2000

The right of David Chandler to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 0 7453 1690 5 hbk

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data applied for

Designed and produced for Pluto Press by Chase Production Services, Chadlington, OX7 3LN Typeset by Gawcott Typesetting Services, Milton Keynes Printed in the EC by TJ International, Padstow

Contents

List of Tables

List of Abbreviations

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

Democratisation

Dayton and Sovereignty

Power-Sharing and Multi-Ethnic Administrations

The Protection of Human Rights

Political Pluralism

Building Civil Society

Assessments

The External Dynamic of Democratisation

Conclusion

Afterword

Notes

References and Select Bibliography

Index

v

vii

viii

x

1

7

34

66

90

111

135

154

181

193

200

212

216

245

For my parents, Michael and Eva.

List of Tables

2.1The Dayton Annexes 45 3.1Party Composition of the Bosnian State Parliament (September 1996) 70 3.2 Party Composition of the Federation Parliamentary Assembly (September 1996) 72 3.3 Party Composition of the Republika Srpska Assembly (September 1996) 75 3.4 Party Composition of the Republika Srpska Assembly (November 1997) 77 3.5 Mostar Municipal Councils 80 3.6 Sarajevo Municipal Council Seat Allocation by Political Party and Nationality 83 3.7 Seat Allocation by Political Party in the Four Sarajevo Municipal Councils 83 3.8 Brcko Arbitration Rulings (14 February 1997) 85 4.1Human Rights Agreements: International Comparison 93 5.1Party Composition of the Republic Srpska Assembly (September 1998) 213 5.2 President/Vice President of Republika Srpska (September 1998) 214

vii

List of Abbreviations

ARRC BBC CAP CEEC CFR CoM CSCE

DPA EASC EBRD

ECMM EU EUAM FERN FIC FRY GFA

HCA HDZ HRCC HTV ICFY

ICG ICRC ICTY

IEBL IFOR IMF IMSLC

IOM IPTF JCC

Allied Rapid Reaction Corps British Broadcasting Corporation Citizens’ Alternative Parliament Central and East European countries Coalition for Return Council of Ministers Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe Dayton Peace Agreement Election Appeals Sub-Commission European Bank for Reconstruction and Development European Community Monitoring Mission European Union European Union Administration Mostar Free Elections Radio Network Federation Implementation Council Federal Republic of Yugoslavia General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina Helsinki Citizens’ Association Croatian Democratic Union Human Rights Co-ordination Centre Hrvatska (Croatian) Television and Radio International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia International Crisis Group International Committee of the Red Cross International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia Inter-Entity Boundary Line NATO Implementation Force International Monetary Fund Intermediate Media Standards and Licensing Commission International Organisation for Migration UN International Police Task Force Joint Civilian Commission

viii

JCCS JIC LEC LNGO MBO MEC MIA MSAG NATO NGO OBN ODIHR

OHR OSCE

PEC PIC QSP RS SDA SDS SFOR SHAPE SNS SPD SRS SRT UBSD

UN UNESCO

UNHCR

UNMiBH

UNPROFOR UNTAES

US VOPP

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ix

Joint Civilian Commission Sarajevo Joint Interim Commission Local Election Commission Local Non-Governmental Organisation Muslim Bosniak Organisation Media Experts Commission Main Implementation Agencies Media Support and Advisory Group North Atlantic Treaty Organisation Non-Governmental Organisation Open Broadcast Network OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights Office of the UN High Representative Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe Provisional Election Commission Peace Implementation Council Quick Start Package Republika Srpska Party of Democratic Action Serb Democratic Party NATO Stabilisation Force Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe Serbian People’s Alliance Serbian Socialist Party Serbian Radical Party Serb Radio and Television Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina Social Democrats United Nations United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina United Nations Protection Force United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia United States Vance-Owen Peace Plan

Acknowledgements

This book would not have been possible without the support of the International Social Policy Research Unit (ISPRU) at Leeds Metropolitan University which provided both funding and research facilities, and I am especially thankful to my colleagues Bob Deacon, Gordon Johnston and Paul Stubbs for their sugges- tions and advice. Research in Bosnia was facilitated by officers from various institutions of the OSCE, in particular: Adam Bedkowski, Human Rights Co-ordinator for Bosnia-Herzegovina, OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights; Virginia Canil, Director General for Democratisation, OSCE Mission to Bosnia-Herzegovina and Betty Dawson, Press and Public Relations Officer, OSCE Mission to Bosnia-Herzegovina. I would also like to acknowledge the support of friends and asso- ciates, who have translated material, trawled cyberspace for infor- mation, and made comments and suggestions on draft material, especially journalism researcher William Woodger, with the London International Research Exchange, Adam Burgess, James Heartfield, Bernd-Uwe Herrmann, Matthew Kershaw, Michael Savage and my partner and inspiration Bonnie Chandler.

x

Introduction

The Dayton Peace Agreement, initialled on 21November 1995, by the governments of Bosnia, Croatia and rump-Yugoslavia, brought the three-and-a-half-year Bosnian war to an end. The agreement, overseen by the institutions of the international community, at the Wright-Patterson Air Force base in Dayton, Ohio, not only established international control over military forces on the ground but also put into practice a new, post-Cold War, international agenda for long-term peace-building. This agenda has extended the sphere of international involvement in post-conflict situations from keeping warring sides apart to taking the lead in developing long-term political solutions; this new role for international institutions is increasingly described as ‘democratisation’. As the UN Secretary-General has noted, ‘democratisation is predominantly a new area’ for the UN, nevertheless it is already seen as ‘a key component of peace-building’ addressing the ‘economic, social, cultural, humanitarian and political roots of conflict’ (UN, 1996, pars 13 and 14). Democratisation is broadly defined by the UN to constitute a ‘comprehensive approach’ covering the broad range of new peace-building priorities, ‘top- down’ international regulation of elections, institutional develop- ment and economic management, and also ‘bottom-up’ assistance to develop a democratic political culture through civil society-building (UN, 1996, par. 124). Under Dayton, the framework of the Bosnian state was to be highly dependent on international supervision. There was to be a one-year transitional international administration, in place until the first state-level elections in September 1996. After this, the formal powers given to the central state authorities were to be uniquely ‘minimalist’, even to the extent of excluding central control over the armed forces, while wide-ranging powers over government institutions were to be given to international organi- sations and externally appointed individuals for between five and six years. These new powers of international involvement were written into the Bosnian Constitution, and the process of democ- ratisation was to be overseen directly by outside administrators appointed by international bodies such as the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the Organisation of Security and Co-opera- tion in Europe and the International Monetary Fund.

1

2

BOSNIA

Three years on from Dayton, the one-year ‘transitional’ administration has been indefinitely extended and the democrati- sation process in Bosnia has become a major international experi- ment in ‘political engineering’. Executive and legislative power today lies with the UN’s High Representative who has the power to directly impose legislation, to veto political candidates and dismiss ‘unco-operative’ elected members of Bosnian governing bodies. The mandates of the leading international institutions have been regularly extended and the role of international non- governmental organisations has continued to grow apace. As Simon Jenkins notes inThe Times, ‘Bosnia has become the world capital of interventionism’ (Jenkins, 1997). Internationally-run elections are held on a regular basis but remain, in these circum- stances, little more than glorified opinion polls (UN, 1998). With all this international ‘assistance’ there is little role for Bosnian people, or their elected representatives, in policy development or implementation. As theWall Street Journalnoted, in August 1998:

In all, there are perhaps 10,000 foreign nation-builders in [the capital city] Sarajevo alone; at least 40,000 others are scattered across Bosnia, including 35,000 soldiers from around the globe. A New Zealander sits as chief of the central bank. An ex-cop from Los Angeles is deputy chief of Bosnia’s interna- tional police force. Mr Klein, a French-born American, serves as deputy in Sarajevo’s Office of the High Representative, or OHR, the closest thing Bosnia has to an executive branch. (King, 1998)

Three years of intensive involvement by the world’s most powerful states, including the Contact Group of the US, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia, and leading international institutions, including the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, United Nations, OSCE and NATO, has done little to create viable institutions of self-government in the state. This growing imbalance of power between international institutions and Bosnian representatives raises questions over the extensive external regulation of the state and the lack of local involvement and responsibility in the process of peace-building and conflict resolution. This book addresses these questions and suggests, first, that there are limits beyond which the regulatory interven- tion of international community bodies and NGOs becomes counterproductive and, second, that these limits have been greatly exceeded due to factors largely external to Bosnia itself. The contradictory nature of such extensive external regulation, under the guise of democratisation, has been noted by those involved in implementing international policy within Bosnia itself.