The Ethnicization of Peace Building Instruments in Bosnia and Herzegovina

In: Studia Universitatis Babeş-Bolyai. Studia Europaea, Band 67, Heft 1, S. 173-184

Abstract

"The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina was conceived with one main purpose, creating a stable, democratic and safe multi ethnic BiH for all its citizens. In order to understand why this objective was not achieved more than 25 years after its implementation, it is important to analyze two main factors: the instruments used in the peace building process and the way they were implemented. The main purpose of this article is looking at certain instruments of peace building used in BiH, which were inefficiently implemented so it further amplified the ethnic aspects instead of alleviating them. In this case, the peace building instruments that will be analyzed are the governmental structure, the election process and its implementation in post-war BiH, and finally, aspects related to human rights such as refugee return and the development of the civil society. Keywords: Bosnia and Herzegovina, peace building, instruments, implementation, ethnicization. "