International Political Actors and State-Building Process in Bosnia-Herzegovina

Abstract

This article analyzes the post-war period in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the role which international actors, mainly represented through the Office of High Representative (OHR), and local political actors played. The primary aim and significance of this article is to present to what extent OHR and local political actors contributed to the establishment of rule of law, security, stability, self-sustainability and creation of modern-functioning state. Therefore, the research questions of this paper address the role of international and local actors in state-building process and their contributions in the creation of a democratic state of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Furthermore, this article examines the roots, causes and results of the political crisis in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The international community, on one hand, never brought their objectives to the state of completion and full implementation, on the other hand, due to the excessive involvement of international community local political actors never held themselves accountable for current political predicaments. Therefore, both, the international community and local political actors must find a way and means to transform DPA Bosnia and Herzegovina towards possible EU member state Bosnia and Herzegovina by using bottom-up step by step state-building strategy.