Construction of Europeanization in the High Representative's discourse in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

After the Bosnian war 1992—5, the Office of the High Representative (OHR) was assigned as the most powerful international body in the country regarding implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement and the subsequent accession of Bosnia and Herzegovina into the European Union. This study focuses on the semiotic elements of discourses of Europe and Europeanization constructed by the OHR in Bosnia and Herzegovina only to reveal more problematic relations of the OHR's dominance in a sovereign country. By analyzing regularly published press releases aimed at the Bosnian public in the process of transition and Europeanization, it looks at the ways in which this organization represented, legitimized and coerced Europeanization in Bosnia and Herzegovina.