Adaptation, resistance and a (Re)turn to functionalism: the case of the Bosnian police restructuring process (2003–2008)

Abstract

This article analyzes the police restructuring process in Bosnia, and more specifically the role of the European Union in this process, to understand what, and how, different practices, routines and patterns of resistance influenced the timing, direction and outcome of this reform process. It provides a new angle to understand the final outcome of police restructuring by looking at actors’ preferences, positions within the field of Security Sector Reform (SSR) and their strategies. The main argument is that a process of ‘muddling through’ was created by the combination of adaptation and resistance techniques employed by international, European and local actors in the broader police reform dynamics. By empirically demonstrating how and why specific practices of key actors influenced the policy-making process, this article provides a preliminary framework to reassess SSR activities as part of a field of practice, to be analyzed through a sociological lens.