Analysis

This paper assesses why security-sector reform (SSR) in Bosnia-Herzegovina has not made significant headway. 1 In relation to this particular country, SSR not only seeks to democratise police and military units, but also to facilitate the integration of rival Bosniak, Croat and Serb forces into a national army. The article argues that the structure of the 1995 General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina (the Dayton agreement) accounts for the continuing division of the security sector between these three groups. Indeed, it legitimises the existence of three largely mono-ethnic police and militaries, which are still controlled by nationalist parties. Seven years after the end of the war, and in spite of intensive effort by the international community, SSR in Bosnia-Herzegovina has only marginally succeeded in integrating and democratising the various security forces. The paper concludes that, unless the Dayton agreement is revised, it is unlikely that the security sector in Bosnia-Herzegovina will be integrated and democratised, even though it may be significantly 'downsized'

Bosnia herzegovina · Ethnology · International community · Nationalism · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Law · Military History and Strategy · Peacebuilding and International Security · Political Conflict and Governance · Public Administration

• Security sector reform

  Slobodan Perdan•Conflict Security and Development•2006

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