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Nationbuilding as an Instrument of Peace? Exploring Local Attitudes towards International Nationbuilding and Reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina

2008; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 10; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13698240802354482

1743-968X

Roland Kostić,

Balkans: History, Politics, Society

Abstract Building a durable peace by means of external nationbuilding can be a cumbersome and uncertain exercise. The outcome often hinges on the attitudes of the local population and elites and their willingness to endorse the process. This article scrutinises the attitudes of the recipient population and political elites towards different aspects of the external nationbuilding in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It addresses the problems of state identity, reconciliation and democratisation in an externally administered nationbuilding endeavour. The empirical findings from Bosnia and Herzegovina are used to illustrate the degree to which external nationbuilding can lay the infrastructure for a durable peace in the aftermath of ethnic war. Acknowledgements For their insightful comments on earlier drafts of this article, the author wishes to thank Peter Wallensteen, Kjell Magnusson, Erik Melander, Catherine Goetze, Margareta Sollenberg, Jonathan Hall and Karen Brounéus, as well as the anonymous reviewers of Civil Wars. All remaining errors are strictly mine. Notes 1. Kofi Annan, ‘Report of the Secretary-General on the Work of Organisations’, A/54/1 (New York: United Nations 31 Aug. 1999). 2. For some of the more prominent studies of international peacebuilding see Simon Chesterman, You, The People: The United Nations, Transitional Administrations, and State-Building (Oxford: Oxford UP 2004); Roger MacGinty, No War, No Peace: The Rejuvenation of Stalled Peace Processes and Peace Accords (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan 2006); Roland Paris, At War's End: Building Peace after Civil Conflict (New York: Cambridge UP 2004); Stephen Stedman, Donald Rothchild and Elisabeth Cousens, Ending Civil Wars: The Implementation of Peace Agreements (London: Lynne Riennar 2002). 3. Liberal peace and its relation to contemporary peacebuilding is discussed in Paris (note 2) pp.13–37; MacGinty (note 2) pp.33–57; Oliver P. Richmond, ‘The Problem of Peace: Understanding the “Liberal Peace”’, Conflict, Security, Development 6/3 (2007) pp.291–314. 4. Brian J. Atwood, ‘Nation-Building and Crisis Prevention in the Post-Cold War World’, The Brown Journal of World Affairs 2/1 (1994) pp.11–17; M. Mandelbaum, The Ideas that Conquered the World: Peace, Democracy and Free Markets in the Twenty-first Century (New York: Public Affairs 2002); MacGinty (note 2); Paris (note 2). 5. Both Paris and Doyle tend to define self-sustaining peace in terms of a peace that lasts long after the departure of external administrators. Michael W. Doyle, ‘Strategy and Transnational Authority’ in S. Stedmand, D. Rothchild and E. Cousens (eds) Ending Civil Wars: The Implementation of Peace Agreements (London: Lynne Riennar 2002) p.85; Paris (note 2) p.59. 6. This argument is made by Francis Fukuyama, Nation-Building: Beyond Afghanistan and Iraq (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP 2006); Jochen Hippler, Nation-Building: A Key Concept for Peaceful Conflict Transformation (London and Ann Arbor: Pluto P 2005); Cynthia A. Watson, Nation-Building: A Reference Handbook (Santa Barbara, and Denver, CO: ABC Clio 2004). However, there are also authors who disagree on this point and describe external nationbuilding primarily in terms of hegemonic imposition on the recipient societies. For example see Gary T. Dempsey and Roger W. Fontaine, Fool's Errands: America's Recent Encounters with Nation Building (Washington: Cato Institute 2001); Michael Ignatieff, Empire Lite: Nation-Building in Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan (London: Vintage 2003). 7. Karl W. Deutsch and William J. Foltz, Nation-Building (New York: Atherton P 1966); Karl W. Deutsch, Nationalism and Social Communication: An Inquiry Into the Foundations of Nationality (Cambridge, MA: MIT P 1966). 8. Walker Connor, ‘Nation-Building or Nation Destroying?’, World Politics 24/3 (1972) pp.319–55. 9. Jochen Hippler, ‘Violent Conflict, Conflict Prevention and Nation-Building Terminology and Political Concepts’ in Hippler (note 6) p.6. 10. Armin von Bogdandy, Stefan Häuβler, Felix Hanschmann and Raphael Utz, ‘State-Building, Nation-Building, and Constitutional Politics in Post-Conflict Situations: Conceptual Clarifications and an Appraisal of Different Approaches’, in Armin von Bogdandy and Rüdiger Wolfrum (eds) Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law, No. 9 (2005) pp.579–613. Karen Rogers, Divided We Fall: State-Building and Nation-Building in Bosnia and Herzegovina (York, UK: Post-War Reconstruction and Development Unit, U of York 2004); Peter Wallensteen, Strategic Peacebuilding: Issues and Actors, Kroc Institute Occasional Papers No. 28 (Paris: U of Notre Dame 2007). 11. Deutsch and Foltz (note 7); Deutsch (note 7). 12. Deutsch (note 7) p.73; Paul R. Brass, Ethnic Groups and the State: Theory and Comparison (New Delhi and Newbury Park, CA: Sage 1991) pp.63–64; Eric J. Hobsbawm and Terence O. Ranger, The Invention of Tradition (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP 1983) p.270; Ernest Gellner, ‘The Coming of Nationalism and its Interpretations: The Myths of Nation and Class’ in G. Balakrishnan (ed.) Mapping the Nation (London: Verso 1996) p.110. 13. The acknowledging of the suffering, developing a shared view of war-time events, and envisioning of the future by the former enemies is often seen as a strategy of social integration and engendering of national unity in the aftermath of civil wars. Tristan Anne Borer, ‘Truth Telling as a Peace-Building Activity: A Theoretical Overview’ in Tristan Anne Borer (ed.) Telling the Truths: Truth Telling and Peace-Building in Post-Conflict Societies (Paris: U of Notre Dame P 2006) p.30; Erin Daly and Jeremy Sarkin, Reconciliation in Divided Societies: Finding Common Ground (Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P 2007); Wallensteen (note 10) p.4. 14. For example see Armin von Bogdandy, Stefan Häuβler, Felix Hanschmann and Raphael Utz, ‘State-Building, Nation-Building, and Constitutional Politics in Post-Conflict Situations: Conceptual Clarifications and an Appraisal of Different Approaches’ in Armin van Bogdandy and Rüdiger Wolfrum (eds) Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law, No. 9 (2005) pp.579–613, p.586. 15. Fukuyama (note 6) p.237. 16. Anthony D. Smith, ‘The Ethnic Sources of Nationalism’ Survival 35/1 (1993) pp.48–63; Miroslav Hroch, ‘From National Movement to the Fully-formed Nation: The Nation-Building Process in Europe’, New Left Review 198 (1993) pp.3–20; Walker Connor, ‘Nation-Building or Nation Destroying?’, World Politics 24/3 (1972) pp.319–55. 17. Smith (‘The Ethnic Sources of Nationalism’ Survival 35/1 (1993)) p.54; Connor (‘Nation-Building or Nation Destroying?’, World Politics 24/3 (1972)) pp.353–55. 18. Oliver Richmond, ‘Devious Objectives and the Disputant's View of International Mediations: A Theoretical Framework’, Journal of Peace Research 35/6 (1998) pp.707–72; Charlie T. Call and Susan E. Cook, ‘On Democratisation and Peacebuilding’, Global Governance 3 (2003) pp.233–46. 19. For the size of external assistance in different missions see for example James Dobbins, ‘America's Role in Nation-Building: From Germany to Iraq’, Survival 45/4, (2003) pp.87–110, p.97. 20. Mirjana Kasapović, Bosna i Hercegovina: Podijeljeno društvo i nestabilna država (Zagreb: Politička kultura 2005). 21. Steven L. Bourg and Paul S. Shoup, The War in Bosnia and Herzegovina (New York and London: M. E. Sharpe 1999). 22. Kasapović (note 20); Bourg and Shoup (The War in Bosnia and Herzegovina (New York and London: M. E. Sharpe 1999)). 23. Cees Wiebes, Intelligence and the War in Bosnia 1992–1995 (Münster, Hamburg and London: Lit Verlag 2003); Xavier Bougarel, ‘Bošnjaci pod kontrolom panislamista’, BiH Dani 138 (1999). 24. For various accounts the international mediations in B-H see Bourg and Shoup (note 21); Richard Hoolbrooke, To End a War (New York: Modern Library 1999); Susan L. Woodward, The Balkan Tragedy: Chaos and Dissolution after the Cold War (Washington DC: The Brookings Institution 1995). 25. For an excellent overview of the Dayton peace agreement framework see Elisabeth M. Cousens and Charles K. Cater, Towards Peace in Bosnia: Implementing the Dayton Accords (London: Lynne Rienner 2001). 26. Carl Bildt, Uppdrag fred (Stockholm: Nordsted 1997) pp.281, 334. 27. PIC Bonn Conclusions, Bosnia and Herzegovina 1998: Self-sustaining Structures, 10 Dec. 1997. 28. Gerald Knaus and Marcus Cox, ‘Lessons from Bosnia and Herzegovina: Travails of the European Raj’, Journal of Democracy 14/3 (2003) pp.60–73. 29. Robert M. Hayden, Blueprints for a House Divided: The Constitutional Logic of the Yugoslav Conflict (Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P 1999) p.137. 30. The Office of the High Representative, ‘Decision on the Use of Inoffensive Insignia and Symbols by the Police and Judicial Institutions in the Federation’ (OHR 1999). 31. For an informed analysis on the subject see the Venice Commission, ‘Opinion on the Constitutional Situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Powers of the High Representative’ (Council of Europe 2005). 32. For the list of all decisions see < www.ohr.int/decisions>. 33. Knaus and Cox (note 28). 34. For more see Dejan Jazvić, ‘Pomilovanje ili zakašnjela pravda?’, Večernji List, Zagreb, Mostar (28. siječnja/Jan. 2006), online at < www.ohr.int/decisions>. 35. See Dnevni Avaz, ‘Douglas Mcelhaney: Pregovore o ustavu BiH lideri treba da nastave’, Dnevni Avaz (27 Jan. 2006); also Dejan Jazvić, ‘Schwarz-Schilling ponovo poziva na usvajanje amandmana na ustav BiH’, Večernj List, Zagreb (16. travnja 2006). 36. Hippler (note 9) p.6. 37. The problematic nature of the export and deployment of the western concept of ‘nationstate’ in building ‘national identities’ in other societies is highlighted by K. J. Holsti, The State, War, and the State of War (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP 1996) p.203. 38. For a detailed analysis of the results, see Roland Kostić, Ambivalent Peace: External Peacebuilding, Threatened Identity and Reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Report No. 78 (Uppsala: Department of Peace and Conflict Research 2007). 39. Roger Scruton, A Dictionary of Political Thought (Basingstoke and Oxford, UK: Macmillan 1996). 40. Besides the state parliament, B-H has also two entity parliaments, the parliaments of Republika Srpska and the Federation of B-H, and 10 cantonal parliaments in the Federation B-H. 41. The parties included in this study – the powerholders and the opposition – share amongst themselves 88 per cent of the state parliament seats and give a good representation of the prevalent political opinions in the country. Note that this is my calculation based on the results of the general elections in 2002. 42. In the case of the main governing parties, four representatives of SDA and SDS, three of HDZ, and one of SBiH and PDP were interviewed. Moreover, interviews with three SNSD, two SDP, two NHI and one SDU and SRS representative were conducted during data collection. 43. Uwe Flick, An Introduction to Qualitative Research (London, Thousand Oaks and New Delhi: Sage 1998) p.92. 44. All interviews are ordered by a number and party affiliation. The original transcripts are in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian and all translations were made by the author. The intention is to eventually translate all interviews into English and make them available for other researchers in the field. 45. P17: PDP PT-15.rtf – 17:22; P15: SDS PT-18.rtf – 15:27; P13: SDS PT-16.rtf – 13:16; P13: SDS PT-16.rtf – 13:41; P10: SNSD PT-20.rtf – 10:31; P10: SNSD PT-20.rtf – 10:36; P18: Radicals RS PT-14.rtf – 18:28. 46. P17: PDP PT-15.rtf – 17:22; P15: SDS PT-18.rtf – 15:27; P13: SDS PT-16.rtf – 13:16; P13: SDS PT-16.rtf – 13:41. 47. P13: SDS PT-16.rtf – 13:26. 48. P15: SDS PT-18.rtf – 15:24. 49. P12: SNSD PT-22.rtf – 12:14. 50. P3: HDZ PT-03.rtf – 3:49; P2: HDZ PT-02.rtf – 2:69; P2: HDZ PT-02.rtf – 2:36. 51. P3: HDZ PT-03.rtf – 3:49. 52. P6: NHI PT-06.rtf – 6:21. 53. P8: SDA PT-08.rtf – 8:57. 54. P9: SDA PT-09.rtf – 9:23. 55. P8: SDA PT-08.rtf – 8:54. 56. P22: SBiH PT-10.rtf – 22:30. 57. P20: SDP PT-13.rtf – 20:19; P19: SDP PT-12.rtf – 19:45. 58. P19: SDP PT-12.rtf – 19:45. 59. P20: SDP PT-13.rtf – 20:16. 60. For an extensive overview of the theory of reconciliation see Karen Brouneus, Reconciliation: Theory and Practice for Development Cooperation (Stockholm: Sida 2003). 61. P15: SDS PT-18.rtf – 15:38; P16: SDS PT-19.rtf -16:34; P13: SDS PT-16.rtf – 13:43; P17: PDP PT-15.rtf – 17:2; P18: Radicals RS PT-14.rtf – 18:3, P18: Radicals RS PT-14.rtf – 18:5. 62. P11: SNSD PT-21.rtf – 11:18. 63. P3: HDZ PT-03.rtf – 3:30; P1: HDZ PT-01.rtf – 1:54. 64. P1: HDZ PT-01.rtf – 1:54. 65. P4: NHI PT- 04.rtf – 4:1; P4: NHI PT- 04.rtf – 4:2; P6: NHI PT- 06.rtf – 6:71. 66. P4: NHI PT-04.rtf – 4:2; P6: NHI PT-06.rtf – 6:71. 67. P8: SDA PT-08.rtf – 8:1. 68. P8: SDA PT-08.rtf – 8:6. 69. P21: SDU PT-11.rtf – 21:5. 70. P19: SDP PT-12.rtf – 19:38. 71. P20: SDP PT-13.rtf – 20:2. 72. P20: SDP PT- 13.rtf – 20:2. 73. P1: HDZ PT-01.rtf – 1:3; P2: HDZ PT-02.rtf – 2:60; P2: HDZ PT-02.rtf – 2:73; P3: HDZ PT-03.rtf – 3:39; P4: NHI PT-04.rtf – 4:52. 74. P2: HDZ PT-02.rtf – 2:59. 75. P7: SDA PT-07.rtf – 7:46; P9: SDA PT-09.rtf – 9:38. 76. P8: SDA PT-08.rtf – 8:85. 77. P8: SDA PT-08.rtf – 8:86. 78. P22: SBiH PT-10.rtf – 22:45. 79. P19: SDP PT-12.rtf – 19:70. 80. P20: SDP PT-13.rtf – 20:35. 81. P16: SDS PT-19.rtf – 16:53; P13: SDS PT-16.rtf – 13:69; P17: PDP PT-15.rtf – 17:54; P10: SNSD PT-20.rtf – 10:61. 82. P16: SDS PT-19.rtf – 16:53. 83. P11: SNSD PT-21.rtf – 11:38. 84. P1: HDZ PT-01.rtf – 1:67; P2: HDZ PT-02.rtf – 2:53; P5: NHI PT-05.rtf – 5:66. 85. P1: HDZ PT-01.rtf – 1:67. 86. P7: SDA PT-07.rtf – 7:29; P22: SBiH PT-10.rtf – 22:37. 87. P22: SBiH PT-10.rtf – 22:37. 88. P21: SDU PT-11.rtf – 21:50. 89. P19: SDP PT-12.rtf – 19:63. 90. P10: SNSD PT-20.rtf – 10:57. 91. P1: HDZ PT-01.rtf – 1:79. 92. P4: NHI PT-04.rtf – 4:68. 93. P5: NHI PT-05.rtf – 5:27. 94. P9: SDA PT-09.rtf – 9:32; P19: SDP PT-12.rtf – 19:63. 95. P21: SDU PT-11.rtf – 21:31. 96. P13: SDS PT-16.rtf – 13:28. 97. P13: SDS PT-16.rtf – 13:56. 98. P10: SNSD PT-20.rtf – 10:57; P10: SNSD PT-20.rtf – 10:59. 99. P11: SNSD PT-21.rtf – 11:2.